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 Mole Lighthouse and Vesuvius from the Santa Lucia Waterfront, Naples 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Mole Lighthouse and Vesuvius from the Santa Lucia Waterfront, Naples’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 75 Verso:
The Mole Lighthouse and Vesuvius from the Santa Lucia Waterfront, Naples 1819
D16054
Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 73 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘7’, ‘9’, ‘3’ and ‘8’ above line of buildings to the left, and ‘[?Green] Boats’ bottom centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The majority of Turner’s sketches in Naples represent views along the seafront. This study depicts part of Santa Lucia, an historic district which stretches between the port to the Castel dell’Ovo. The prospect looks north-east along the shoreline towards the Castel Nuovo and the old port, where a number of ships are docked within the breakwater. The Mole lighthouse is visible near the centre of the composition, and Vesuvius dominates the horizon beyond. The structure in the right-hand foreground is one of a number of Baroque fountains or religious tabernacles which could once be found all along the Neapolitan quayside. For further sketches see folios 76–76 verso (D16055–D16056; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 74–74a), and the Gandolfo to Naples sketchbook (Tate D15675, D15677–D15678; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 58c, 59a–60).

Nicola Moorby
July 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Mole Lighthouse and Vesuvius from the Santa Lucia Waterfront, Naples 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-mole-lighthouse-and-vesuvius-from-the-santa-lucia-r1137978, accessed 27 April 2024.