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

The vantage point for this view across the city of Naples appears to be a winding road known as the Salita di Sant’Antonio (present-day Rampe Sant’Antonio) which zig-zags up the northern end of the Posillipo Hill towards the Church of Sant’Antonio. Turner’s sketch depicts the vista looking north-east from the road (which appears in the left-hand foreground) towards the distant hill topped by Castel Sant’Elmo and the Certosa di San Martino. A similar but more detailed composition can be seen in the Naples: Rome C. Studies sketchbook (Tate D16102; Turner Bequest CLXXXVII 14). For a near-contemporaneous view depicting the road see a drawing by the artist’s friend and colleague, James Hakewill (1778–1843).1

As Revd John Chetwode Eustace documented in his travel guide book, A Classical Tour Through Italy (first published 1813), the Salita di Sant’Antonio was the road which tourists would take to reach the ancient burial vault known as the Tomb of Virgil near the Grotto of Posillipo (now known as the Crypta Neapolitana in present-day Parco Virgilano).2 Related on-the-spot sketches from near Virgil’s Tomb can be seen on folio 15 (D15936) and in the Pompeii, Amalfi, Sorrento, Herculaneum sketchbook (Tate D15865–D15868; Turner Bequest CLXXXV 68–69a). Turner made notes from the relevant passage of Eustace’s publication in the Italian Guide Book sketchbook (see Tate D13955; Turner Bequest CLXXII 13).