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

This drawing disrupts the thematic continuity of Turner’s sketches of Pompeii. The subject is the town of Molina which lies in a valley (Valle Bonea) on the inland road between Naples and Salerno. Turner passed through en route to the Amalfi coast and Paestum and this study depicts the view looking south towards the sea and the town of Vietri sul Mare. The steep peak on the left is the Monte San Liberatore and in the foreground are some of the water mills (mulino) for which the town is named. In the central middle distance is the Ponte del Diavolo, an aqueduct which was destroyed by a flood in 1954. For further views of Molina see folios 9 and 32–33 (D15753 and D15797–D15799), as well as the Naples, Paestum, Rome sketchbook (Tate D15988, D15991 and D15994; Turner Bequest CLXXXVI 39, 40a, 42).