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 Three Views of the Coast near Sorrento, with Punta Scutolo 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Views of the Coast near Sorrento, with Punta Scutolo’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 63 Recto:
Three Views of the Coast near Sorrento, with Punta Scutolo 1819
D15853
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 62
Pencil on white wove paper, 189 x 113 mm
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘278’ top right, ascending right-hand edge and ‘62’ top left, ascending left-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXV 62’ top right, ascending right-hand edge
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains three views related to Turner’s journey by sea along the Sorrentine peninsula. The two upper studies both depict the view looking west towards the Punto Scutolo, a promontory on the coast near Vico Equense and below Montechiaro. Turner has exploited the vertical height of the sketchbook in order to depict the impressive scale of the sheer cliff face looming above the small rowing boat below. There is a small tower situated at the tip of the headland overlooking the sea, and another on the shoreline at the base of the cliffs. A similar prospect can be seen in an earlier watercolour by John ‘Warwick’ Smith (1749–1831), Coast of Sorrento 1778–9 (Tate, T08499).
The sketch at the bottom depicts a point slightly further west around the promontory with the village and harbour of Alimuri, part of the Bay of Sorrento in the distance beyond. For further views see folio 63 verso (D15854; Turner Bequest CLXXXV 62a).

Nicola Moorby
November 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Three Views of the Coast near Sorrento, with Punta Scutolo 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 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-three-views-of-the-coast-near-sorrento-with-punta-scutolo-r1138322, accessed 25 April 2024.