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 Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from Vesuvius; and Two Further Sketches from the Ascent to the Top 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from Vesuvius; and Two Further Sketches from the Ascent to the Top’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 43 Recto:
Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from Vesuvius; and Two Further Sketches from the Ascent to the Top 1819
D15638
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 41
Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘281’ bottom right and ‘41’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIV 41’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner made a series of sketches of Naples and the surrounding landscape as seen from the ascent to the summit of Vesuvius, see folio 46 verso (D15645; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 44a). This page contains three separate studies associated with that expedition.
The largest view on the sheet is part of a rough sketch representing the semi-circular sweep of the Bay and Gulf of Naples seen from the higher slopes of the volcano. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 42 verso (D15637; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 40c), but this side depicts the hill of Camaldoli to the north-west of the city.
The remaining two sketches are swift, rough studies drawn in parallel with the right-hand side of the page. The uppermost vista represents Vesuvius seen from below, with Monte Somma on the left, and the lower repeats the view of the Bay of Naples seen from the slopes.

Nicola Moorby
May 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from Vesuvius; and Two Further Sketches from the Ascent to the Top 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-part-of-a-view-of-the-gulf-of-naples-seen-from-vesuvius-and-r1138100, accessed 20 September 2024.