J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner View of Naples from the East 1819

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 49 Verso:
View of Naples from the East 1819
D15651
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 47 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s viewpoint for this sketch of Naples is the coastline to the east, near the Ponte della Maddalena, a bridge which stood within the present-day Vittorio Emanuele III docks and carried the Via Marinella over the River Sebeto. The view looks west across the semi-circular bay towards the headland of Castel dell’Ovo and the Posillipo coastline beyond. Further along the waterfront is the old port with the Castel Nuovo and the Mole lighthouse, whilst rising above the city is the hill of Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa (Charterhouse) of San Martino. Visible on the far right-hand side is the tall spire of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, and the Castello del Carmine. For related sketches see folios 48 verso–49 and 50 verso (D15649–D15650 and D15653; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 46a–47 and 48a). Compare also a near-contemporaneous drawing by Turner’s friend and collaborator, James Hakewill (1778–1873), Naples from the Ponte della Maddalena 1816 (British School at Rome Library).1
The figures in the bottom right-hand corner of the sheet are details which have spilled over from the composition on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 50 (D15652; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 48).

Nicola Moorby
May 2010

1
See Tony Cubberley and Luke Herrmann, Twilight of the Grand Tour: A Catalogue of the drawings by James Hakewill in the British School at Rome Library, Rome 1992, no.5.44, p.272, reproduced.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘View of Naples from the East 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 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-naples-from-the-east-r1138113, accessed 28 March 2024.