As Cecilia Powell first identified, the subject of this rough outline sketch is an interior view of the Second Temple of Hera (formerly known as the Temple of Neptune), one of the three celebrated fifth-century Greek ruins at Paestum.
1 Turner’s viewpoint is from the
pronaos (inner portico) at the eastern end of the building looking towards the surviving columns of the inner cella. Just visible on the left-hand side of the composition is the relative position the adjacent Temple of Hera (commonly but erroneously known as the Basilica). Powell has suggested that Turner’s approach reflects his knowledge of the dramatic interior views of the temples by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) which he would have seen in the collection of his friend, John Soane.
2 He had already used one of these drawings as the basis for a perspective diagram for his Royal Academy lectures (see Tate
D17072; Turner Bequest CXCV 102).
3 For further interior views see folios 33–33 verso and 45 (
D15972–D15973 and
D15996; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 31–31a and 43). For a more detailed discussion and other sketches of the temples see folio 31 (
D15968; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 29).
