Torre delle Grotte near Naples

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Torre delle Grotte near Naples
Torre delle Grotte near Naples
Torre delle Grotte near Naples
The Trustees of the British Museum
title=Credit line
Artist
William Hodges after Wilson
Title
Torre delle Grotte near Naples
Date
Published 29 January 1776
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Metric: 180 x 254 mm
Imperial: 7 1/16 x 10 in.
Accession Number
1982,U.618
Wilson Online Reference
E35B
Description
View of three caves cut into a cliff-face, with a square tower on the summit and a stone arch projecting into the sea on the left. This side of the bay, men in a small barge can be seen in the left foreground and there are other sailing craft in the distance.
Provenance
Acquired 1982
Signature/inscription
Lettered below the image with the title and 'R. Wilson del. | W. Hodges Sc. | Published Jan: 29, 1776, by John Boydell Engraver in Cheapside London.'
Subject
It has recently been shown by Simon and Postle that the scene is of Torregaveta, a craggy outcrop on the Phlegraean peninsula to the east of Naples. Close to Baiae, Cumae and the volcanic lakes of Fusaro and Avernus, it had many classical associations. At the summit of the cliffs was the ruin of a villa fortress constructed by the Roman consul, Servilius Vatia (c.122-44 BC). The tower of the villa was still prominent in the 18th century but was damaged in the Second World War, by which time the rock face and the arches had also been much eroded.
Related Drawings
D207 Torre delle Grotte, near Naples Tate, London
Versions
See 'Links' tab
Related Paintings
P70 Torre delle Grotte near Naples, Private Collection, Yorkshire
P70A Torre delle Grotte near Naples, John Mitchell Fine Art Paintings
Critical commentary
Twelve Original Views in Italy was published by John Boydell as a compilation of etchings by different printmakers, produced over a number of years, after Wilson's drawings or paintings. The present print was based on a related drawing, probably D207 (Tate, London). It is the only print in the series made by Wilson's former pupil, William Hodges and is likely to have been completed before July 1772, when Hodges left England with Captain Cook's second voyage to the Pacific (less probably in late 1775 after his return). It differs from the paintings of the subject in the relative size and proportions of the openings in the rocks, the arrangements of the more distant boats and in the sky.
Bibliography
Edwards 1808, pp. 88, 251; Ford 1951, p. 57; WGC, p. 199 under pl. 78a, b; Wilson and Europe 2014, p. 295
Link to WG Constable Archive Record