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 Interior of the Second Temple of Hera (Formerly known as the Temple of Neptune), Paestum 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Interior of the Second Temple of Hera (Formerly known as the Temple of Neptune), Paestum’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 33 Verso:
Interior of the Second Temple of Hera (Formerly known as the Temple of Neptune), Paestum 1819
D15973
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 31 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘4’ centre right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this rough outline sketch is an interior view of the Second Temple of Hera (formerly known as the Temple of Neptune), one of the three celebrated fifth-century Greek ruins at Paestum. Turner’s viewpoint is looking towards the eastern end of the building with the outer portico of columns on the right, and part of the surviving double-storey inner cella on the left. The artist has denoted the line of the mountains in the distance beyond, and just visible on the far right-hand side of the composition is the relative position of part of the adjacent Temple of Hera (commonly but erroneously known as the Basilica). For further interior views see folios 44 verso–45 (D15995–D15996; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 42a–43). For a more detailed discussion and other sketches of the temples see folio 31 (D15968; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 29).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Interior of the Second Temple of Hera (Formerly known as the Temple of Neptune), Paestum 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-interior-of-the-second-temple-of-hera-formerly-known-as-the-r1137897, accessed 19 April 2024.