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 Five Views from the Sea of the Amalfi Coast Between Vietri sul Mare and Salerno 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Five Views from the Sea of the Amalfi Coast Between Vietri sul Mare and Salerno’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Recto:
Five Views from the Sea of the Amalfi Coast Between Vietri sul Mare and Salerno 1819
D15805
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 36
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 113 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Yellow Rock’ bottom right of third sketch from top
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘278’ top right, ascending right-hand edge and ‘36’ top left, ascending left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXV 36’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At some point during his exploration of the Amalfi coast, Turner travelled by sea between Amalfi and Salerno. This page contains five views of the rugged, mountainous coastline between Vietri sul Mare and Salerno. Although it is not clear whether the artist was travelling east to west or vice versa, he has filled the page with successive vistas as seen from a boat sailing close to the shore. Visible in the second and third sketches from the top is Vietri sul Mare itself, identifiable from its medieval watch-tower and the dome and bell-tower of the Church of San Giovanni. Meanwhile the two lower studies represent the view coming into Salerno, with the castle on the hill to the far right-hand side.
For other sketches from the sea see folios 35 verso and 47 verso–66 verso (D15804 and D15824–D15860).

Nicola Moorby
October 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Five Views from the Sea of the Amalfi Coast Between Vietri sul Mare and Salerno 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 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-five-views-from-the-sea-of-the-amalfi-coast-between-vietri-r1138272, accessed 23 April 2024.