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 Peristyle of the Villa of Diomides, Pompeii 1819

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Peristyle of the Villa of Diomides, Pompeii’ 1819
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Verso:
Peristyle of the Villa of Diomides, Pompeii 1819
D15743
Turner Bequest CLXXXV 3 a
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 189 mm
Inscribed by the artist in pencil ‘WL’ centre right-hand edge and ‘[?Y]’within second column from left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner entered the archaeological site of Pompeii from the north-west along the Via dei Sepolcri (Street of the Tombs). The first set of ruins he came to therefore was the Villa of Diomedes, an opulent suburban house and garden first excavated during the years 1771–4, which stands on the right-hand side of the road just outside of the main city walls.1 A flight of steps leads directly from the street into the villa’s inner courtyard which is surrounded on four sides by the remnants of a fourteen columned porch or peristyle. This sketch depicts a view of the south side of the peristyle looking towards the wall which borders the street. An alternative study looking from the opposite direction is folio 2 (D15741), whilst drawing of the gardens can be found on folio 4 (D15473).
For a general discussion of Turner’s visit to Pompeii see the introduction to the sketchbook.

Nicola Moorby
September 2010

1
Further north-west on the site today is the Villa dei Misteri (Villa of Mysteries) but this was not discovered until the early twentieth century.

How to cite

Nicola Moorby, ‘Peristyle of the Villa of Diomides, Pompeii 1819 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 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-peristyle-of-the-villa-of-diomides-pompeii-r1138209, accessed 21 December 2024.