David Roberts, R.A.

Gifted by the artist to the Reverend James White (1803–1862), Bonchurch, Isle of Wight;

Thence by inheritance to his wife, Rosa White, Bonchurch, Isle of Wight;

Thence by descent to their daughter, Clara Margaret Jean Gordon, née White (c. 1843–1864), Bonchurch, Isle of Wight;

Thence by descent.

Listed in the artist’s record books under works completed in 1854, 1829–64, vol. 2, p. 34, no. 212, illustrated by the artist, as 'Ruins of the Temple of Neptune, Putzolle [sic]';

J. Ballantine, The Life of David Roberts, R.A., Edinburgh 1886, pp. 190 and 252, no. 234;

H. Guiterman and B. Llewellyn (eds), David Roberts, exh. cat., London 1986, p. 122, no. 186, reproduced in colour n. pag., fig. 49.

London, Barbican Art Gallery, David Roberts, R.A., 6 November 1986 – 4 January 1987, no. 186.

Having stayed in private hands since its conception, this well-preserved capriccio of the Pozzuoli and Baia area, near Naples, was painted by Roberts from memory in July 1858 and presented to his friend the Reverend James White (1803–1862) at Winterbourne Villa, Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, as described and illustrated in his record books from 1829–64.¹

After several months in Rome, Roberts travelled to Naples in February 1854 and visited many of the surrounding areas including Pozzuoli, the bay of Baia, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Amalfi. During this period he made countless studies and these sketches, first executed in pencil, then watercolour and eventually oil, continued to provide him with inspiration for the works he painted until his death in 1864, intended as they were to encourage potential patrons to commission grand compositions. 

In this example, the composition has been assembled with views of various buildings observed and recorded on his travels. The round building on the right is loosely based on the Temple of Venus, Baia, and the distant hilltop structure in the centre appears to be the Aragonese Castle. The Corinthian capitals and fluted columns on the left can be seen among the ruins at Pozzuoli but no structure stands exactly in this formation today. The ruins of the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli have three Tuscan columns among other remains, which are surrounded by water and likely inspired the setting in this painting.

Roberts would often stay in Bonchurch and along with this painting, gifted White with Ruins of Kom Ombo, Nile in 1854 and Roslin Castle in 1856.² White married Rosa Hill, heiress to the Bonchurch estate, in 1839 and had a son, James (1841–1888), and three daughters, one of whom inherited this painting. After his father-in-law's death, White retired to Bonchurch and became a writer, publishing a succession of Scottish historical tragedies between 1845 and 1847, but is best known for The Eighteen Christian Centuries (Edinburgh 1858). At Winterbourne Villa he entertained several literary celebrities, including his close friend Charles Dickens, as well as Alfred Tennyson and William Makepeace Thackeray.

We are grateful to Krystyna Matyjaszkiewicz for endorsing the attribution on the basis of digital images.

¹ D. Roberts, Artist’s record books under works completed in 1854, 1829–64, vol. 2, p. 34, no. 212.

² Ballentine 1886, p. 252.