'Sketches of the Gulf of Naples, Including Two Seen from the Ascent of Vesuvius', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

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

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Gandolfo to Naples Sketchbook

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

References

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

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.