J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Part of a View of Naples and Vesuvius from Mergellina 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 65 Recto:
Part of a View of Naples and Vesuvius from Mergellina 1819
D16033
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 63
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?...] Wine’ bottom centre and ‘[?Coating]’ bottom right. Also ‘Pink’ within sky
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘63’ bottom left, inverted and ‘245’ top left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVI 63’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s viewpoint for this view of Naples is Mergellina, a small fishing village and port about a mile west of the main city between the Chiaia waterfront and Posillipo. The vista looks east across the curve of the bay of Naples towards the hill surmounted by Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread with Castel dell’Ovo and Vesuvius, see folio 64 verso (D16032; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 62a). Related sketches can be found on folios 66 verso–67 (D16036–D16037; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 64a–65).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Part of a View of Naples and Vesuvius from Mergellina 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-mergellina-r1137957, accessed 19 April 2024.