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

The three views on this page represent sketches taken from the sea of the coast between the small town of Atrani and nearby Amalfi to the west. The uppermost vista shows the road between the two locations which follows the line of the coast around a projecting spur of land. Visible on the far right-hand side is the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Atrani, whilst at the tip of the headland on the left stands one of the sixteenth-century watch-towers (also known as the Torri Saracena or Saracen Towers) which were erected to act as a line of defence against Turkish invasion. This round tower forms the subject of the central study. The lower scene meanwhile depicts a view of Amalfi from the east. Similar but more detailed compositions can be found on folios 46 and 54 (D15821 and D15837). The details at the very bottom of the page represent a small part of the latter folio.