View of the coast near Naples, with figures in rowing boats in the foreground

In July 1765, William Marlow left from England for Italy where he stayed for a year. His itinerary is well documented by paintings and drawings although none is dated. An unsigned obituary notice of 14 January 1813 stated that he 'went on his travels to France and Italy in 1765 by the advice of the late Duchess of Northumberland' and a large group of oil paintings in the Northumberland collection at Alnwick Castle would appear to support this assertion. The collection of sketches and drawings that Marlow made in Italy, as well as paintings and watercolours that he executed on his return to England, indicate that he visited Venice, Florence, Rome, the Campagna, and Naples and its environs. From the sketches that he made Marlow subsequently worked up pen and ink drawings from which his patrons in England ordered versions in either oil or watercolours.

This painting is close in composition to a View in the Bay of Naples by Marlow at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, and it recurrs in two drawings and two etchings in the British Museum, all with slight variations (see M. Liversidge, op. cit.).

We are grateful to Michael Liversidge for his assistance in cataloguing this painting.