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 > Naples: Rome. C. Studies Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Posillipo 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Posillipo’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 8 Recto:
Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Posillipo 1819
D16095
Turner Bequest CLXXXVII 8
Pencil and traces of watercolour on white wove paper, 255 x 403 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘8’ bottom right, descending right-hand edge
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXVII 8’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject of this sketch is Monte Somma (left) and Vesuvius (right) and the Sorrentine peninsula, seen across the Bay of Naples from Posillipo. Turner’s viewpoint appears to be looking east from a villa on the coastline, possibly somewhere on the Capo di Posillipo near present-day Villa Rosebery. Portici can be seen stretching along the coastline at the base of the volcano, and a small trail of smoke rises from the crater above. The artist made an unfinished coloured study of Vesuvius from a similar location (Tate D16106; Turner Bequest CLXXXVII 18), and another related view can be seen in the Gandolfo to Naples sketchbook (Tate D15669; Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 56a).
Verso:
Blank, save for being stamped in black ‘CLXXXVII 8’ and Turner Bequest monogram bottom left.

Nicola Moorby
April 2010

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Posillipo 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-vesuvius-and-monte-somma-from-posillipo-r1132354, accessed 26 December 2024.