Joseph Mallord William Turner

Naples from the Sea, with Castel dell’Ovo, Pizzofalcone and Castel Sant’Elmo

1819

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

Not on display

Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Naples, Paestum and Rome 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
D15932
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 13

Catalogue entry

The Castel dell’Ovo (Castle of the Egg) in Naples is an historic fortress built on the islet of Megaride, a small piece of headland which juts into the sea in front of the port of Santa Lucia. This sketch depicts a view of that islet taken from a boat just offshore to the immediate south.1 Beyond the bulky outline of the castle is the main coastline with the small steep hill of Pizzofalcone, rising to the greater heights of Castel Sant’Elmo beyond. The small dome visible near the waterfront to the left of the Castel dell’Ovo is the Church of Crocelle a Chiatamone. For further views of Naples from the sea see folios 3 verso–12 (D15913–D15919 and D15922–D15930).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

1
Compare a painting by Gaspar Van Wittel (1652/3–1736), Naples from the sea, 1719 (Palazzo Pitti, Florence), reproduced in colour in Giuliano Briganti, Nicola Spinosa and Lindsay Stainton, In the Shadow of Vesuvius: Views of Naples from Baroque to Romanticism 1631–1830, exhibition catalogue, Accademia Italiana delle Arti e dell arti Applicate, London 1990, p.36.

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right

In the shop

Browse the shop