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 > Pompeii, Amalfi, &c., Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Sketch of ?Villa Gallo; and a Figure Study 1819

Image 1 of 2
  • Inside front cover of sketchbook
  • Enhanced image
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Sketch of ?Villa Gallo; and a Figure Study’ 1819 (Inside front cover of sketchbook)
Inside front cover of sketchbook
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Inside Front Cover:
Sketch of ?Villa Gallo; and a Figure Study 1819
D40943
Turner Bequest
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Villa Gallo | C[...]] top right, and ‘This Book was begun at Pompei | Ends at Villa Gallo’ bottom right. Also ‘[?Brown cap] | Blue cavasa | Pink Jacket over [?Shirt] | White Br[...] | Apron w[...] | purple [...] | through Red laced with White’ bottom left, parallel with left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXV’ top centre, left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner has used the inside front cover of the sketchbook for a rough sketch of part of the Villa Gallo on the Capodimonte Hill in Naples. Built for the Duke of Gallo in 1809, the estate was famous for panoramic views across the city and bay. A related drawing can be found on the inside back cover (D40943), and according to the artist’s inscription in the bottom right-hand corner, it was the last thing he drew in this sketchbook. Also on the page is a rough figure study of a woman with annotated notes on her costume.

Nicola Moorby
September 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Sketch of ?Villa Gallo; and a Figure Study 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 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-sketch-of-villa-gallo-and-a-figure-study-r1138204, accessed 16 April 2024.