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 The Southern End of the Forum from the Temple of Jupiter, Pompeii 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Southern End of the Forum from the Temple of Jupiter, Pompeii’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Verso:
The Southern End of the Forum from the Temple of Jupiter, Pompeii 1819
D15777
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 21 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the time of Turner’s visit to Pompeii, one of the most impressive and recently excavated areas was the Forum. The artist made a number of studies of this part of the site from a number of different angles, see folios 12 verso–15, 20 verso–21, 22 verso, 23 verso (D15760–D15764, D15775–D15776, D15779, D15781). This sketch depicts a view of the southern end of the Forum with the Basilica on the right and Monte Faito and the Sorrentine peninsula in the distance beyond. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 22 (D15778), where Turner’s viewpoint is revealed to be the eastern exterior wall of the Temple of Jupiter.
For further sketches and a general discussion of Turner’s visit to Pompeii see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
September 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Southern End of the Forum from the Temple of Jupiter, Pompeii 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-the-southern-end-of-the-forum-from-the-temple-of-jupiter-r1138243, accessed 19 April 2024.