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 > Italian Guide Book Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Notes by Turner from Eustace's 'A Classical Tour Through Italy' c.1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Notes by Turner from Eustace's 'A Classical Tour Through Italy'’ c.1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Recto:
Notes by Turner from Eustace’s ‘A Classical Tour Through Italy’ circa 1819
D13957
Turner Bequest CLXXII 14
Inscribed by the artist in black ink (see main catalogue entry) on white wove paper, 155 x 99 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘14’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXII 14’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page is one of several sides of extensive notes made by Turner from A Classical Tour Through Italy by Revd John Chetwode Eustace. The source was first identified by Cecilia Powell, who also transcribed Turner’s notes in full in the Appendix of her 1984 PhD thesis, ‘Turner on Classic Ground: His Visits to Central and Southern Italy and Related Paintings and Drawings’.1 The inscription is repeated here with only minor variations from her text:
gate of Cumae Liternum Torre di | Patria Temple of Hercules castle | or Fortress now called the Grotto Sybilla Lake of | Fusaro or Acherusia palus small island | with a castle called Laqua Morta Vol 2 | Procida Castle Punta del Vomora. Island Pandata | Palace Island Vivara Sth point of ^Prochyta^ Procida Ischia | Anime Inarime Ænaia Pithecuse castle of Ischia | Mt San Nicolo. Forio Panza castle Casaminio Mt Epomeo | Inarime .. Nisisa retreat of Brutus ., Vesuvius | Portici Torre del Greco del Annunciata, on the coast | Ottaiano Somma Massa Monte Somma the | lower summit atrio ^del^ Cavalli place to leave the horses | Herculaneum under Portici 70 feet Pompeii 14 miles | road by Nocera Palus Pompeiana ancient temple now | a barrack. doric col. brick plastered red and yellow two | theatres. Temple of Isis doric Temple and court 16 Doric | col or pillars another court 60 street with post Salve | Inn, one amphorae (‘the oil shop) which contain Wine | tomb and palumbarium villa some distance an edicul | Edicula or temple under the Portico of the Great Court | female skeletons villa of Arrius street of the Tombs | Stabiae – Neighbourhood of Naples. | Aqueducts and Palace of Caserta Acerra Sessola | Maddaloni Valley. Mt Tifarta one side Gazzano the other. Aqueduct | Bridge 2000 long 200 high watred from Mt Taburnus first row | 19 arches; 27 second 43 top. canal 4 feet 3 1/2 deep caserta Vanvitelli | Palace 800 feet 600 broad 120 high marble chapel Vanvitelli | Acerra towards Benventum a Gothic Castle | Arienzo Monte Tifatini a defile Le Forche ‘d Arpaia the | ancient Caudium Giogo de Sta Maria Via Appia. | two Roman Bridges cross the Sabato Beneventum
These notes relate to various passages from volumes II and III of Eustace’s text and condense parts of the author’s account of Naples and its environs.2 Turner’s note ‘Vol 2’ reflects the fact that Volume II of the 1815 and/or 1817 editions ends at this point.3 Many of the sights listed here form subjects in Turner’s sketchbooks, such as Pompeii and Herculaneum, see the Pompeii, Amalfi, Sorrento and Herculaneum sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest CLXXXV).
For a general discussion of Turner’s notes from Eustace see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
July 2008

1
Powell 1984, p.396–8.
2
John Chetwode Eustace, A Classical Tour Through Italy, London 1815, 3rd edition, vol.II, pp.421–8 and vol.III, pp.1–75.
3
Powell 1984, p.378.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Notes by Turner from Eustace’s ‘A Classical Tour Through Italy’ c.1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2008, 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-notes-by-turner-from-eustaces-a-classical-tour-through-italy-r1138778, accessed 25 April 2024.