Joseph Mallord William Turner

?Atrani; and Two Views of Cetara from the Sea

1819

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

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Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Pompeii, Amalfi, &c., Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 113 × 189 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D15804
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 35 a

Catalogue entry

This page contains three distinct views. At the top of the sheet is a sketch which appears to depict boats moored in front of buildings. Although not conclusively identified, the steep topography of the location and the bell-tower at the top of the composition suggests that this may represent Atrani, a small coastal town to the east of Amalfi, see folio 35 (D15803).
The lower vista represents Cetara, another town on the Amalfi coast, west of Vietri sul Mare. Turner has also made a separate study of the waterfront sixteenth-century watch-tower, the Torre Vicereale. The artist’s viewpoint is from a boat on the sea and these are part of a sequence of sketches charting the stretch of coastline between Amalfi and Salerno, see also folios 36 and 48–54 (D15805 and D15825–D15837).

Nicola Moorby
October 2010

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