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, Paestum and Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Distant View of the Ausoni Mountains 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Distant View of the Ausoni Mountains’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 1 Verso:
?Distant View of the Ausoni Mountains 1819
D15909
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 1 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?Mt Celia]’ centre left, parallel with left-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Despite Turner’s handwritten inscription, the location of this distant view of mountains remains unknown. Comparison with other sketches suggests that it may depict the line of the Ausoni mountains from Fondi, a town on the Via Appia between Terracina and Formia, see folios 52 verso and 57 verso (D16011 and D16019; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 50a and 55a), and the inside front cover (D40949). Turner’s handwritten inscription appears to read ‘Mt Celia’ although there is no peak of this name visible within the area. The shaky nature of the line suggests that the drawing was executed from a moving vessel or vehicle. Also on this page is another rough outline sketch, the details of which are too slight to be identified.

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘?Distant View of the Ausoni Mountains 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 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-distant-view-of-the-ausoni-mountains-r1137835, accessed 25 April 2024.