Joseph Mallord William Turner

This view of Naples looking east towards Castel dell’Ovo and the Pizzofalcone hill is taken from Villa Reale, a royal promenade (present-day Villa Comunale park) which runs along the length of the Chiaia waterfront between Piazza Vittoria and Piazza della Repubblica. During the early nineteenth-century the gardens stretched directly to the edge of the sea, although they are now bordered to the south by the Via Caracciolo. Visible in the distance is the vast silhouette of Vesuvius with its smoking crater Monte Somma. The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 67 verso (D15862; Turner Bequest CLXXXV 66a). A sketch of the view looking in the opposite direction towards Posillipo can be seen on folio 68 verso (D15864; Turner Bequest CLXXXV 67a).

Further studies of the Villa Reale can be seen in the Gandolfo to Naples sketchbook (Tate D15656–D15657; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 50–50a) and the Naples, Paestum, Rome sketchbook (Tate D16015; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 52a).