J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

Turner’s vantage point for this view of central Pisa is from the Lungarno Gambacorti on the south bank of the River Arno, looking east. A complementary view of Pisa, facing west from the north bank of the Arno, can be found on folio 93 recto (D21584). As identified by Cecilia Powell, the three-arched bridge in view is the Ponte di Mezzo.1 Constructed in the late seventeenth century, it was destroyed during the Second World War and subsequently rebuilt. The building with the clocktower to the right is the Palazzo Pretorio on the Lungarno Galilei, next to which is the Logge di Banchi. Further views of the palace appear on folios 91 recto and 94 recto (D21580, D21586). To the left are riverside buildings along the Lungarno Pacinotti and Lungarno Mediceo. Above is an outline of gothic window tracery with a trefoil design; this is an enlarged detail from the terracotta-clad Palazzo Agostini, the cropped building visible to the far left.

This view of Pisa is out of sequence with the overall itinerary embodied by the sketchbook (see the Introduction), which begins near Genoa and ends near Livorno and Florence. See under folio 31 recto (D21472) for a general commentary on Turner’s visit to Pisa, together with a list of relevant works in the sketchbook.