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 Study of a Boat in the Harbour at ?Naples 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of a Boat in the Harbour at ?Naples’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 18 Verso:
Study of a Boat in the Harbour at ?Naples 1819
D15943
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 18 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner was always fascinated by different types of shipping and studies of boats often form part of his visual record of a place. The port of Naples was one of the largest and busiest in Europe and the artist would have seen a wide variety of vessels in and around the city’s coastline, from small fishing craft to large sailing ships. This study appears to show a canvas-covered cargo ship docked in the harbour. For other studies see folios 19 and 21 verso (D15944 and D15949; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 19 and 20a).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Study of a Boat in the Harbour at ?Naples 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-study-of-a-boat-in-the-harbour-at-naples-r1137867, accessed 25 April 2024.