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 Via dei Sepolcri, Pompeii, with the Porta Ercolano; Also a Distant View of Vesuvius 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Via dei Sepolcri, Pompeii, with the Porta Ercolano; Also a Distant View of Vesuvius’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 7 Recto:
Via dei Sepolcri, Pompeii, with the Porta Ercolano; Also a Distant View of Vesuvius 1819
D15750
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 7
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘R’ and ‘[?V]’ within sketch, bottom left
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘278’ bottom right and ‘7 top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXV 7 bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner made a thorough exploration of the famous archaeological site of Pompeii, recording his observations in over forty sketches of various parts of the ruins. The main study on this page represents a view of the Via dei Sepolcri (Street of the Tombs) looking east towards the Porta Ercolano (Herculaneum Gate), the main point of entry into the north-west of the city from Herculaneum and Rome. The two monuments visible on the left-hand side of the vista represent the covered seat of a hemicycle (left) and a tomb of an unknown person, decorated with garland reliefs (right). At the top of the page the artist has made thumbnail sketches of details of the decorative reliefs from the two structures (now almost totally destroyed). Further studies of capitals can be seen on folio 8 (D15751). In the bottom left-hand corner of this sheet is a separate drawing. This represents a view from the same vantage point, looking west down the Via dei Sepolcri with Vesuvius in the distance.
Further sketches of the Via dei Sepolcri can be found on folios 5–6 verso, 8, 9–10 (D15746–D15749, D15751, D15753–D15755). For a general discussion of Turner’s visit to Pompeii see the introduction to the sketchbook.
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Nicola Moorby
September 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Via dei Sepolcri, Pompeii, with the Porta Ercolano; Also a Distant View of Vesuvius 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-via-dei-sepolcri-pompeii-with-the-porta-ercolano-also-a-r1138216, accessed 26 April 2024.