Joseph Mallord William Turner

This sketch depicts Mesa on the Via Appia, approximately ten miles north-west of Terracina. According to various contemporary sources, the village was the site of an eighteenth-century post-house where people could stop and rest or change the horses,1 and this is the large, rather grand building visible on the right-hand side of the road.2 Like many other tourists travelling post, Turner could have broken the journey between Rome and Naples here. To the immediate left of the post station is a cylindrical-shaped ruin rising from a square base, which is an ancient Roman tomb attributed by inscription to Clesippo Geganio.3 Further views of Mesa, including a study of this sepulchre, can be seen on folios 13 verso and 14 verso (D15580 and D15582).

In the distance on the right is the distinctive promontory of Monte Circeo, the profile of which dominates the view ahead during the straight thirty-mile stretch of road between Velletri and Terracina. For a contemporary description of the landscape in this part of Italy see folio 12 verso (D15578).