Joseph Mallord William Turner

Temple of Apollo, Pompeii; and Study of a Pedestal in the Triangular Forum

1819

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
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
D15787
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 26 a

Catalogue entry

The Temple of Apollo in Pompeii was excavated in 1817, two years before Turner visited the site during a sojourn in Naples.1 The main sketch on this page depicts a view of the temple from inside the quadriporticus (colonnaded atrium) looking north-west towards the altar and the steps leading up to the podium and cella. The statue in the bottom right-hand corner of the composition is a herm which can now be found in the National Archeological Museum, Naples. For an alternative study of the temple see folio 23 (D15780).
Also on this sheet, parallel with the left-hand edge, is a small study of a pedestal found in the Triangular Forum, see folio 24 (D15782). Turner has transcribed the Latin text from the front of this object which reads ‘M. CLAVDIO. C.F. MARCELLO. PATRONO’ [To Marcus Claudius Marcellus, son of Gaius, patron].2
For further sketches and a general discussion of Turner’s visit to Pompeii see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
September 2010

1
Pompeii site number VII.7.32. In many nineteenth-century illustrations the site is known as the Temple of Bacchus.
2
See Alison E. Cooley and M.G.L. Cooley, Pompeii: A Sourcebook, London 2004, p.133, F101, and http://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R8/8%2007%2030%20p1.htm, accessed September 2010.

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