Portfino 4 leagues from Genoa west

Taken from the travel notebook of an English admiral, William Paget, who called them Sketches in the South of France, Coast of Italy, Rome, Elba and Lombardy, Lake of Como and Maggiore in the years 1819-20-21 as can be seen from his own handwriting. These works present views of the Liguria region, parts of Tuscany (especially the island of Elba), and a large number dedicated to the lakes of Lombardy. The artistic quality is not the same for all of these water-colours and their author is more interested in the natural scenery than in representing people. It can be seen that they were created by an amateur painter and their greatest interest lies in their iconographical and decorative values.

From the point of view of artistic techiniques these works were created by first making a preliminary drawing with a pencil, usually on thick laid paper (typically used in early nineteenth-century England), and then painting it with water-colours. Since these works come in different sizes, the notebooks originally might have been more than one.