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 Naples from the Sea, with Palazzo Reale, Castel Nuovo and the Mole; and a Distant View of Cori from Tor Tre Ponti 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Naples from the Sea, with Palazzo Reale, Castel Nuovo and the Mole; and a Distant View of Cori from Tor Tre Ponti’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Recto:
Naples from the Sea, with Palazzo Reale, Castel Nuovo and the Mole; and a Distant View of Cori from Tor Tre Ponti 1819
D15930
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 12
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Cori’ within sketch of mountain, top right
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in red ink ‘12’ top right and ‘245’ bottom left
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVI 12’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s viewpoint for this panoramic view of Naples was from a boat to the south. It is one of a sequence of sketches which were perhaps drawn during the artist’s expedition to Paestum and the Amalfi coast, see folios 3 verso–12 (D15913–D15919 and D15922–D15930). The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 11 verso (D15929), but this section depicts the eastern shoreline of the city. On the left-hand side at the foot of the Sant’Elmo Hill is the Pizzofalcone Hill and the Borgo Santa Lucia, whilst to the right is the long façade of the Palazzo Reale, the d’arsena or arsenale (naval shipyard) and the Castel Nuovo with Capodimonte visible in the distance. On the far right-hand side is the Mole (pier) of the old port with the lighthouse.
At the top of the page is a second sketch relating to Turner’s return journey between Naples and Rome. It represents a distant view of Cori in the Lepini mountains seen from Tor Tre Ponti (also known as Treponti or Torre Tre Ponti), a small village and post-station near Latina amidst the Pontine Marshes. The foreground building on the right is the Church of San Paolo Apostolo, see folio 34 (D15974; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 32).1

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

1
http://www.rassegnanews.com/Cartolina_Storica_Tor_Tre_Ponti.jpg

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Naples from the Sea, with Palazzo Reale, Castel Nuovo and the Mole; and a Distant View of Cori from Tor Tre Ponti 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-naples-from-the-sea-with-palazzo-reale-castel-nuovo-and-the-r1137854, accessed 25 April 2024.