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 > Naples: Rome. C. Studies Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of Capri and the Bay of Sorrento from Naples 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of Capri and the Bay of Sorrento from Naples’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 20 Recto:
View of Capri and the Bay of Sorrento from Naples 1819
D16108
Turner Bequest CLXXXVII 20
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 255 x 403 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Capri’ bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘20’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVII 20’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of seven watercolours relating to Naples dating from Turner’s 1819 tour of Italy. The subject is a distant view of the island of Capri and the eastern promontory of the Gulf of Naples with the Bay of Sorrento, as seen from the Santa Lucia district of the city. Related studies featuring the Castel dell’Ovo in the foreground can also be found within the same sketchbook (see D16089, D16093 and D16109; Turner Bequest CLXXXVII 2, 6 and 21). All feature the same motif at different times of day, and under varying weather conditions.
Verso:
Blank, save for inscriptions by unknown hands in pencil ‘Capri’ centre and ‘84’ bottom right, inverted, and ‘CLXXXVII . 20’ bottom right, ascending right-hand edge; stamped in black ‘CLXXXVII 20’ and Turner Bequest monogram bottom left.

Nicola Moorby
April 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of Capri and the Bay of Sorrento from Naples 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-view-of-capri-and-the-bay-of-sorrento-from-naples-r1132367, accessed 25 April 2024.