Joseph Mallord William Turner

This sketch represents a view of the Via dell’Abbondanza (Street of Abundance), one of the main thoroughfares of Pompeii which runs from the south-east corner of the Forum to the Porta di Sarno on the far eastern perimeter of the city walls. Turner’s sketch depicts a public fountain near the junction with the Vicolo di Eumachia at the back of the Building of Eumachia.1 Comprised of a stone basin and a tablet decorated with a woman holding a cornucopia or ‘horn of plenty’, the fountain gives the street its name.

For further sketches and a general discussion of Turner’s visit to Pompeii see the introduction to the sketchbook.