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 Part of a View of Naples and Vesuvius, from Montesanto 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Part of a View of Naples and Vesuvius, from Montesanto’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Recto:
Part of a View of Naples and Vesuvius, from Montesanto 1819
D16008
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 49
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘N from Trinita di | Monti’ bottom left and ‘Vines’ lower left-hand edge
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘49’ bottom left, inverted and ‘245’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVI 49’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains part of a panoramic view of Naples seen from the top of the Scala Montesanto (Montesanto Steps), on the northern slopes below Castel Sant’Elmo, near present day Corso Vittorio Emanuele. This part of the vista looks north across the roofs and domes of the city towards the Reggia (Palace) di Capodimonte, prominent along the horizon. The general topography of the area has been much altered since the early nineteenth century during urban restructuring projects such as the building of the Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the funicular routes. However, the tall arches visible near the centre of the drawing are the substructures of an old wall amid the tufa slopes (now part of present-day Parco Ventalieri),1 whilst to the right is part of the unfinished Palazzo Spinelli di Tarsia, built by the Neapolitan architect Domenico Antonio Vaccaro during the seventeen-thirties. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 50 verso (D16007; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 48a).
It is not clear why Turner has inscribed the sketch ‘N[aples] from Trinita de Monti’ but perhaps he was confused with, or reminded, of the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti (Spanish Steps) in Rome.

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

1
The park was built during the 1980s, see http://www.parcosocialeventaglieri.it/pagine/parco.htm.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Part of a View of Naples and Vesuvius, from Montesanto 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-part-of-a-view-of-naples-and-vesuvius-from-montesanto-r1137932, accessed 24 April 2024.