Joseph Mallord William TurnerSketches of the Gulf of Naples, Including Two Seen from the Ascent of Vesuvius 1819

Share this artwork

Artwork details

Artist
Title
Sketches of the Gulf of Naples, Including Two Seen from the Ascent of Vesuvius
From Gandolfo to Naples Sketchbook
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV
Date 1819
MediumGraphite on paper
Dimensionssupport: 122 x 197 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D15646
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 45
View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 47 Recto:
Sketches of the Gulf of Naples, Including Two Seen from the Ascent of Vesuvius 1819
D15646
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 45
Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘281’ bottom right and ‘45’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIV 45’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The bottom right-hand corner of this page contains an unidentified drawing which appears to include buildings and the entrance to a cave within a hilly landscape. Inverted on the sheet are two further rough sketches representing views seen from the ascent up Vesuvius, see folio 46 verso (D15645; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 44a). The opportunities for the artist to use his sketchbook would have been limited by the difficult and demanding nature of the expedition, and therefore the visual records he was able to make were necessarily swift and schematic.

Nicola Moorby
May 2010

About this artwork