J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Monro School c.1794-8 > Collaborations with Thomas Girtin for Dr ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin Portici: Mounts Somma and Vesuvius from Sir William Hamilton's Villa c.1796-7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin, ‘Portici: Mounts Somma and Vesuvius from Sir William Hamilton's Villa’ c.1796-7
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Thomas Girtin 1775–1802
Portici: Mounts Somma and Vesuvius from Sir William Hamilton’s Villa c.1796–7
D36559
Turner Bequest CCCLXXV 38
Pencil and grey and blue washes on white wove paper, 288 x 493 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXXV – 38’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Provenance:
Probably commissioned by Dr Thomas Monro
Monro’s posthumous sale, Christie’s, London, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833 (day and lot number not known)
Bought by or on behalf of Turner
The pencil work is by Girtin. This was copied from a sketch by John Robert Cozens (1752–1797) in Beckford Sketchbook II, pp.9 verso–10 recto, titled ‘From the Myrtle Plantation at Sr. W. Hamilton’s Villa – Portici’ and dated ‘August 18 [1782]’ (Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, D1975.5. 9/10).1
This sheet was omitted from Finberg’s 1909 Inventory.2
1
Bell and Girtin 1935, p.56 under no.238; Charles Nugent, British Watercolours in the Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester: A Summary Catalogue of Drawings and Watercolours by Artists Born before 1880, London and Manchester 2003, p.92, reproduced.
2
See A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.II, p.1236.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Portici: Mounts Somma and Vesuvius from Sir William Hamilton’s Villa c.1796–7 by Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-thomas-girtin-portici-mounts-somma-and-vesuvius-from-sir-r1141286, accessed 25 April 2024.