This view of the twin volcanic peaks that dominate the landscape in the vicinity of Naples was bought by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at the posthumous sale of Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833). The watercolour is a typical example of the unique collaboration between Turner and his almost exact contemporary, Girtin, who worked together at Monro’s London home at the Adelphi across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797. Here they were employed across three winters, probably between 1794 and 1797, to make ‘finished drawings’ from the ‘Copies’ of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings of Cozens’ and other artists, amateur and professional, either from Monro’s collection or lent for the purpose. As the two young artists later recalled, Girtin generally ‘drew in outlines and Turner washed in the effects’. ‘They went at 6 and staid till Ten’, which may account for the generally monochrome appearance of the works, and, as the diarist Joseph Farington (1747–1821) reported, Turner received ‘3s. 6d each night’, though ‘Girtin did not say what He had’ (Farington, Diary, 12 November 1798).¹

The view is based on a simple outline drawing by John Robert Cozens (1752–97), inscribed ‘From the Myrtle Plantation at Sr. W. Hamilton’s Villa – Portici – August 18’ (see the source image above). This was almost certainly traced by Cozens himself from an on-the-spot sketch, which he made in 1782 on a second visit to Italy (Bell and Girtin, 1935, no.238), when the artist travelled with his patron William Beckford (1760–1844) and stayed in the Naples area for four months (see figure 1). The sketch is contained in the second of seven sketchbooks that survive from the trip and it was presumably traced by Cozens because the books were retained by Beckford. Monro’s posthumous sale, in 1833, contained only twenty or so sketches by Cozens, so the patron must have borrowed the majority of the ‘outlines or unfinished drawings’ copied by Girtin and Turner. A large number of these are contained in an album put together by Sir George Beaumont (1753–1827), which he lent to Monro, but in this case the tracing has come down to us by a different route and is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Sloan and Joyner, 1993, pp.89–91). Overlaying images of the Cozens tracing and the Monro School watercolour illustrates that whilst the the addition of greater areas of sky and foreground have converted the panoramic format of the source into a more conventional view, the drawing otherwise replicates the tracing. The inscription on the tracing identifies the view as being taken from the plantation behind the villa of Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803) at Portici, and the work thus effectively forms a pair with TG0711, which looks to the north west. The villa belonging to the British envoy was situated close to the newly excavated ruins at Herculaneum and provided a good view of Vesuvius and its extinct neighbour, Mount Somma.

The bulk of the Monro School copies disposed of at the patron’s posthumous sale in 1833 were listed as by Turner alone, and this generally remained the case until the publication of Andrew Wilton’s pioneering article in 1984, since when the joint attribution of the Monro School works to Turner and Girtin has increasingly become the norm (Wilton, 1984a, pp.8–23). Identifying the division of labour within Monro School drawings is considerably helped, as here, when the colour washes by Turner leave some of the pencil work untouched in order to create highlights, with the result that Girtin’s inventive and fluent hand is clearly apparent alongside Turner’s economical use of a simple palette of blues and greys.

On a technical note, Peter Bower has identified the support used by Girtin as a cream wove large post writing paper made by the Balston and Hollingworth Brothers Partnership at Turkey Mill, Maidstone, Kent (Bower, Report).

1794 - 1797

Naples: The View from Sir William Hamilton’s Villa at Portici

TG0711