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 Lake Avernus, with the Ruins of the Temple of Apollo 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lake Avernus, with the Ruins of the Temple of Apollo’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 78 Recto:
Lake Avernus, with the Ruins of the Temple of Apollo 1819
D15709
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 76
Pencil and traces of watercolour on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘281’ top left, inverted and ‘76’ bottom left, inverted
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIV 76’ top left, inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains sketches of Lake Avernus, a volcanic crater lake near Pozzuoli which is represented in classical mythology as the entrance to the underworld. In the bottom right-hand corner is part of a composition continued from the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 77 verso (D15708; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 75a), which depicts a view of the lake looking north towards Monte Corvara. A similar composition was depicted by John ‘Warwick’ Smith (1749–1831) in Select Views in Italy, and a copy of this plate can be found in the Italian Guide Book sketchbook (Tate D13969; Turner Bequest CLXXII 20a). For further sketches of Lake Avernus and a discussion of Turner’s related paintings see folio 19 verso (Tate D15592).

Nicola Moorby
June 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Lake Avernus, with the Ruins of the Temple of Apollo 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-lake-avernus-with-the-ruins-of-the-temple-of-apollo-r1138170, accessed 24 April 2024.