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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Pompeii, Amalfi, &c., Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Great Theatre and the Quadriporticus, Pompeii 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Great Theatre and the Quadriporticus, Pompeii’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 25 Verso:
The Great Theatre and the Quadriporticus, Pompeii 1819
D15785
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 25 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘7’ left of sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The structure dominating the foreground of this sketch is the Great Theatre of Pompeii, a semi-circular arena with a stage which lies near the southern perimeter of the city. Turner’s viewpoint is from the upper tiers of seating looking east towards the distant Lattari Mountains. Just beyond the theatre on the right is the Quadriporticus, a large porticoed square used as a foyer, whilst visible on the far left-hand side is the curved form of the nearby Small Theatre. This area was a popular subject for artists visiting the ruins,1 and an alternative prospect can be found on folio 26 (D15786). For further sketches and a general discussion of Turner’s visit to Pompeii see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
October 2010

1
The composition is virtually identical to an engraving by Charles Heath, ‘View in the Great Theatre, Looking Towards the Scene’ published August 1818, reproduced in Sir William Gell and Joseph Gandy, Pompeiana: The Topography, Edifices, and Ornaments of Pompeii, London 1824, vol.II, pl.70, between pp.258–9.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Great Theatre and the Quadriporticus, Pompeii 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-great-theatre-and-the-quadriporticus-pompeii-r1138251, accessed 27 April 2024.