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 Vesuvius 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Vesuvius’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 26 Recto:
Vesuvius 1819
D15958
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 25
Pencil on white wove paper, approximately 66 x 113 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘M Ves | V della Fontana’ bottom right
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘25’ bottom right, descending right-hand edge and ‘245’ top left, descending left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVI 25’ bottom left, descending left-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Despite Turner’s inscription ‘V[?ia] della Fontana’ in the bottom right-hand corner of this partial sketchbook page, the location for this view of Vesuvius is currently unidentified. It appears however to depict the gently smoking volcano and the adjacent peak of Monte Somma from hills to the west, possibly from the ascent towards Capodimonte in Naples. The drawing has been executed swiftly with energetic cross-hatched lines. Another study apparently from the same road can be found on folio 27 (D15960; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 25b).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Vesuvius 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-vesuvius-r1137882, accessed 26 April 2024.