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 View of the Bay of Pozzuoli with the Islands of Nisida and Ischia; and a View of Capri from ?Pozzuoli 1819

Image 1 of 2
  • Enhanced image
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of the Bay of Pozzuoli with the Islands of Nisida and Ischia; and a View of Capri from ?Pozzuoli’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 58 Recto:
View of the Bay of Pozzuoli with the Islands of Nisida and Ischia; and a View of Capri from ?Pozzuoli 1819
D15668
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 56
Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘[?Baiae]’ bottom left of upper sketch
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘281’ bottom right and ‘56’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIV 56’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains two on-the-spot sketches associated with Turner’s exploration of the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean or Burning Fields) to the west of Naples. The uppermost study depicts a view of the Bay of Pozzuoli looking south-west from a point above the valley beneath the hill of Posillipo (near present day Via Caravaggio in Fuorigrotta). On the left-hand side is the Capo di Posillipo and the island of Nisida, whilst to the centre and right beyond are the islands of Ischia, Procida and Cape Misenum (Capo Miseno). Related vistas can be seen on folio 57 verso (D15667; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 55a) and in the Naples: Rome C. Studies sketchbook (Tate D16105; Turner Bequest CLXXXVII 17).
The lower prospect is a view of the island of Capri and the Sorrentine peninsula seen from a coastal town within the Bay of Pozzuoli, possibly the port of Pozzuoli itself.

Nicola Moorby
May 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of the Bay of Pozzuoli with the Islands of Nisida and Ischia; and a View of Capri from ?Pozzuoli 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-view-of-the-bay-of-pozzuoli-with-the-islands-of-nisida-and-r1138130, accessed 25 April 2024.