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 Twelve Copies of Engravings after John 'Warwick' Smith from 'Select Views in Italy' c.1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Twelve Copies of Engravings after John 'Warwick' Smith from 'Select Views in Italy'’ c.1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 20 Verso:
Twelve Copies of Engravings after John ‘Warwick’ Smith from ‘Select Views in Italy’ circa 1819
D13969
Turner Bequest CLXXII 20 a
Pen and black ink on white wove paper, 155 x 99 mm
Inscribed by the artist in black ink with titles and details of views (see main catalogue entry)
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page is one of a series containing small pen-and-ink sketches of topographical Italian views. As Finberg first identified, these are copies of the engraved plates in John Smith, William Byrne and John Emes’s, Select Views in Italy, published in two volumes between 1792–9. The images derive from the following compositions (in sequence left to right and top to bottom):
i
Amphitheatre at Capua Vecchia, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.1 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Capua Vecchia or Capone la Vieille’ across bottom. The accompanying text to the plates was published in English and French and Turner’s note here derives from the French name for the Capua Vecchia, or ‘Old Capua’.
ii
Cuma, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.2 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Cuma’ top centre.
iii
Lake Avernus, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne.3 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Lake of Avernus’ bottom left.
iv
Bay of Puzzuoli, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.4 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Bay of Puzzuoli’ bottom centre.
v
Solfatara, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.5 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Solfatara’ bottom right.
vi
Lake of Agnano, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne.6
vii
Grotto of Posilipo, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.7 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘’Entrance to Grotto Posilipo’ bottom centre.
viii
On the Shore of Posilipo, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne and James Sparrow.8 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Shore of Posilipo’ bottom centre.
ix
Part of the City of Naples, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne.9 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Naples’ bottom right.
x
General View of the Bay and City of Naples, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by William Byrne and William Lowry.10 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Naples’ bottom centre.
xi
On Mount Vesuvius, above Portici, drawn by John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.11 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Vesuvius | above Portici’ bottom right.
xii
The Summit and Crater of Mount Vesuvius, John ‘Warwick’ Smith and engraved by Benjamin Thomas Pouncy.12 Inscribed by the artist in black ink ‘Crater of | Vesuvius’ bottom right.
Related on-the-spot views of many of the same locations can be found in the Gandolfo to Naples sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV). For a general discussion of Turner’s sketches from Select Views see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
July 2008

1
John Smith, William Byrne and John Emes, Select Views in Italy with Topographical and Historical Descriptions in English and French, vol.II, London 1796, pl.49.
2
Ibid., pl.50.
3
Ibid., pl.51.
4
Ibid., pl.52.
5
Ibid., pl.53.
6
Ibid., pl.54.
7
Ibid., pl.55.
8
Ibid., pl.56.
9
Ibid., pl.57.
10
Ibid., pl.58.
11
Ibid., pl.59.
12
Ibid., pl.60.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Twelve Copies of Engravings after John ‘Warwick’ Smith from ‘Select Views in 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-twelve-copies-of-engravings-after-john-warwick-smith-from-r1138790, accessed 25 April 2024.