The Lighthouse of Genoa, Portofino and Lisbon from the Sea

The artwork

That white tower by the sea, top left, is the Lighthouse of Genoa as harbour pilots saw it in 1801, with the course written underneath: Portofino three leagues to the east. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• Five landfalls seen from the sea, from Genoa to Lisbon, hand-coloured.
• In the dark frame it is a window on the sea for a hallway or a study.
• A gift for anyone who loves Genoa, the Italian Riviera and the sea.

The Lanterna was rebuilt in the shape we see in 1543, and until 1902 no lighthouse in the world was taller. In its early days heather and juniper wood was burned at the top; in 1326 an olive-oil lantern arrived; the rotating lens was lit only in 1841, forty years after this print. In 1449 one of the keepers was a certain Antonio Colombo: the uncle of Christopher Columbus.

The plate comes from The Little Sea Torch, the guide for coasting pilots that John Thomas Serres, marine painter to King George III, published in London in 1801: Joseph Constantine Stadler turned his watercolours into aquatints, and the plates were coloured by hand. The same sheet holds four more landfalls: Porto Venere at the mouth of the Gulf of La Spezia; Portofino and Sestri Levante; the fort at the entrance to the port of Livorno, with the island of Gorgona on the horizon; and the Tagus in front of the Belém Tower, where the caption warns that Lisbon is hidden behind that point. The copy reproduced here is in the David Rumsey Map Collection.

In a hallway, a study or above the desk of someone who loves the sea, it is a gift for anyone who loves Genoa and the Italian Riviera. And the Lanterna, top left, always points the way.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass