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 Vesuvius and Castel Sant'Elmo by Moonlight 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Vesuvius and Castel Sant'Elmo by Moonlight’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 53 Verso:
Vesuvius and Castel Sant’Elmo by Moonlight 1819
D16013
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 51 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Moonlight’ top right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Turner’s inscription indicates this view of Vesuvius and the Castel Sant’Elmo was observed at night with the moon shining above Naples. The vista looks east with the hilltop Sant’Elmo fortress on the left and the smoking crater of the volcano visible in the distance beyond. The artist’s viewpoint is from a steep set of steps descending towards the sea, probably the Rampe or Gradini del Petraio which link the Vomero Hill west of Castel Sant’Elmo to the Chiaia waterfront.

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Vesuvius and Castel Sant’Elmo by Moonlight 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-vesuvius-and-castel-santelmo-by-moonlight-r1137937, accessed 27 April 2024.