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 > Gandolfo to Naples Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Naples 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Naples’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Naples 1819
D15634
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 40
Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘281’ bottom right and ‘40’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIV 40’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this sketch is the peaks of Monte Somma (left) and Vesuvius (right) seen from Naples. A small smoke trail can be seen issuing from the crater of the volcano. The foreground structures are currently unidentified although they may represent part of the old port or arsenal of Naples, on the quayside near Castel Nuovo.

Nicola Moorby
May 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Naples 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 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-and-monte-somma-from-naples-r1138096, accessed 24 April 2024.