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 > Gandolfo to Naples Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Summit of Vesuvius from Its Slopes; and Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from the Ascent 1819

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Summit of Vesuvius from Its Slopes; and Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from the Ascent’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 44 Recto:
The Summit of Vesuvius from Its Slopes; and Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from the Ascent 1819
D15640
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 42
Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘Ves’ bottom right of sketch parallel with right-hand edge
Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘281’ bottom right and ‘42’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIV 42’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Cecilia Powell first identified, Turner made a series of sketches of Naples and the surrounding landscape as seen from the ascent to the summit of Vesuvius, see folio 46 verso (D15645; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 44a).1 This page contains two separate studies associated with that expedition. The main sketch on the left is part of a view of the Bay and Gulf of Naples looking west/south-west from the heights of the volcano.2 The composition continues on the opposite sheet of the double-page spread, see folio 43 verso (D15639; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 41a).
The drawing on the right-hand side of the sheet depicts a view of the conical-shaped summit of Vesuvius seen from the slopes beneath. A thin trail of smoke issues from the crater and Turner’s rough, on-the-spot draughtsmanship captures a sense of the difficult, rocky terrain.

Nicola Moorby
May 2010

1
Powell 1984, p.424.
2
For a similar view compare John ‘Warwick’ Smith (1749–1831), City of Naples from Vesuvius 1778–9 (Tate, T08509).

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘The Summit of Vesuvius from Its Slopes; and Part of a View of the Gulf of Naples Seen from the Ascent 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-the-summit-of-vesuvius-from-its-slopes-and-part-of-a-view-of-r1138102, accessed 20 January 2025.