J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > First Italian Tour 1819-20 > Naples, Paestum and Rome Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Harbour at Salerno from the East 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Harbour at Salerno from the East’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 39 Recto:
The Harbour at Salerno from the East 1819
D15984
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 37
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘yellow | Brown yellow’ bottom centre and ‘Red Stocks’ bottom right
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘37’ top right and ‘245’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVI 37’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The city of Salerno lies within the Gulf of Salerno, approximately thirty miles south-east of Naples. Turner passed through en route to the Greek temples at Paestum and made a number of sketches of the port and the surrounding bay. This study depicts a view from the harbour looking west in the direction of Vietri sul Mare. Visible in the middle distance near the centre of the composition is the Torre Crestarella which stands on the shore between Salerno and Vietri. It is one of a number of small medieval watch-towers which can be found all along the coastline. Just in front of it is the old Mole which sheltered the shipping within the bay, whilst beyond it is the rugged, mountainous landscape which characterises the length of the Amalfi coast. Turner has also recorded the bustle of human activity along the Salerno waterfront including men, women and children, animals, boats and carriages. Part of the drawing spills over onto the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 38 verso (D15983; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 36a).
For further sketches of Salerno see folios 38, 39 verso and 87 verso–88 (D15982, D15985 and D16078–D16079; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 36, 37a and 85a–86) and the Pompeii, Amalfi, Sorrento, Herculaneum sketchbook (Tate D15824; Turner Bequest CLXXXV 47a).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Harbour at Salerno from the East 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-harbour-at-salerno-from-the-east-r1137908, accessed 09 July 2025.