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 > Pompeii, Amalfi, &c., Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Two Views of Naples from the Posillipo Hill near Sant'Antonio; also Part of a View from Camaldoli 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Two Views of Naples from the Posillipo Hill near Sant'Antonio; also Part of a View from Camaldoli’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 71 Verso:
Two Views of Naples from the Posillipo Hill near Sant’Antonio; also Part of a View from Camaldoli 1819
D15868
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 69 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 113 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘goes up to Pozzuoli’ bottom right of top sketch, and ‘[?Walls]’ bottom left of centre sketch
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The Church of Sant’Antonio stands on the slopes of the Posillipo Hill overlooking the Bay of Naples at the western end of the city near Mergellina. It was reached from the Piedigrotta district by a winding zigzag road, the Salita di Sant’Antonio (present-day Rampe Sant’Antonio) which was frequently taken by tourists who wished to visit the nearby Tomb of Virgil, see folio 70 (D15865: Turner Bequest 68).
As Turner’s inscription indicates, the road also formed part of the route over the Posillipo Hill to Pozzuoli and the volcanic landscape west of Naples known as the Campi Phlegrei (Burning Fields). The two sketches at the top of this sheet represent views taken from the ascent looking east across the city. The uppermost study depicts the heights of Castel Sant’Elmo framed by the steep sides of the sloping ravine and with the campanile of Sant’Antonio rising in the foreground. The lower scene meanwhile shows the curve of the bay towards Castel dell’Ovo with Vesuvius in the distance beyond. The building in the right-hand corner may belong to the vineyard which adjoined the Tomb of Virgil at this time, see folio 71 (D15867; Turner Bequest CLXXXV 69). For a similar view see the Naples, Paestum, Rome sketchbook (Tate D15936; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 15).
The details at the bottom of the page represent part of the landscape composition which has spilled over from the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 72 (D15869). The drawing depicts the view from the hill of Camaldoli.

Nicola Moorby
October 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Two Views of Naples from the Posillipo Hill near Sant’Antonio; also Part of a View from Camaldoli 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 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-two-views-of-naples-from-the-posillipo-hill-near-santantonio-r1138339, accessed 26 April 2024.