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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Santa Lucia Waterfront, Naples 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 60 Verso:
Santa Lucia Waterfront, Naples 1819
D15675
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 58 c
Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘W Black Cap’ bottom centre right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch depicts a view of Santa Lucia, an historic district in Naples which stretches between the port to the Castel dell’Ovo. Turner’s prospect looks south-west along the seafront towards the headland of Castel dell’Ovo with the rocky hill of Pizzofalcone on the right. The building which lies along the summit is the military barracks of the Gran Quartiere di Pizzofalcone (present-day Caserma Nino Bixio). Situated along the quayside are two ornamental structures. On the left is a religious tabernacle, whilst to the right is the Fontana di Santa Lucia, one of the monumental Baroque fountains which could be found all along the waterfront but which today is situated in the gardens of the Villa Comunale. For more detailed studies of both see the Naples, Paestum, Rome sketchbook (Tate D16055–D16056; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 74–74a). A more detailed view of the Santa Lucia waterfront can be found on folios 61 verso–62 (D15677–D15678; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 59a–60). Compare also a near-contemporaneous drawing by Turner’s collaborator on Picturesque Views in Italy, James Hakewill (1778–1843), Naples. Sta. Lucia and the Castle dell’Ovo 1816 (British School at Rome Library).1

Nicola Moorby
June 2010

1
Reproduced in Tony Cubberley and Luke Herrmann, Twilight of the Grand Tour: A catalogue of the drawings by James Hakewill in the British School at Rome Library, Rome 1992, no.5.41, p.268.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Santa Lucia Waterfront, Naples 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 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-santa-lucia-waterfront-naples-r1138135, accessed 29 March 2024.