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 View of the Porta Ercolano, Pompeii, with the Tomb of Mamia on the Via dei Sepolcri 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View of the Porta Ercolano, Pompeii, with the Tomb of Mamia on the Via dei Sepolcri’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 9 Verso:
View of the Porta Ercolano, Pompeii, with the Tomb of Mamia on the Via dei Sepolcri 1819
D15754
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 9 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Despite the rough nature of this sketch the subject can clearly be identified as a view of the Via dei Sepolcri (Street of the Tombs) in Pompeii. Turner’s viewpoint is at the top of the street with the Porta Ercolano (Herculaneum Gate) on the left, looking south towards the Tomb of Mamia and other ruins. In the distance are the rugged peaks of Monte Faito, part of the Sorrentine peninsula.
For further sketches of the Via dei Sepolcri see folios 5–8, 9, 10 (D15747–D15751, D15753, D15755). For a general discussion of Turner’s visit to Pompeii see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
September 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of the Porta Ercolano, Pompeii, with the Tomb of Mamia on the Via dei Sepolcri 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 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-view-of-the-porta-ercolano-pompeii-with-the-tomb-of-mamia-on-r1138220, accessed 26 April 2024.