Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Robert Vernon
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-wilson-606" aria-label="More by Richard Wilson" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Richard Wilson</a>
Lake Avernus and Island Capri
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
adults
boat, sailing
coast
countries and continents
hill
island
Italy
Italy, Capri
lake
Lake Avernus
Lake Avernus
landscape
man
mythical, religious, fictional
natural features (non-UK)
people
places
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
sunset
times of the day
transport: water
water: inland
wooded
<p>Lake Avernus, near Naples, lies in the volcanic region of the Phlegraean ('Burning') Fields. In classical mythology these were the site of the Underworld, or 'Hades'. The entrance to Hades was said to lie in a nearby grotto, inhabited by a prophetess known as the Cumaean Sibyl.</p><p>In Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid, the Sibyl helps Aeneas, the Trojan prince, to enter Hades. There his father's ghost foretells his destiny as the founder of the Roman nation. Such associations made Lake Avernus a major attraction for landscape artists and travellers on the Grand Tour.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
15 June 2002 – 21 May 2007
2007-05-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-06-15
Pastoral Landscape
Collection based display
26 March 2015 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
26 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
2015-06-21
2015-03-26
Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City, Mexico)
18 July 2015 – 18 October 2015
2015-10-18
2015-07-18
Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo, Brazil)
27 April 2018 – 5 August 2018
2018-08-05
2018-04-27
Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
4 September 2018 – 13 November 2018
2018-11-13
2018-09-04
National Art Museum of China (Beijing, China)
27 November 2019 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
2019-11-27
Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong, China)
2015-03-26
British Landscape
Tate partnerships & programmes
12 October 2023 – 28 January 2024
2024-01-28
12 October 2023 – 28 January 2024
2024-01-28
2023-10-12
Reggia di Venaria Reale (Turin, Italy)
2023-10-12
Turner & Mythology
Loan-out
Lake Avernus and the Island of Capri
support: 470 × 724 mm
frame: 755 × 1016 × 124 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999978" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Robert Vernon</a> 1847
<p>This picture was for many years thought to depict a scene near Pozzuoli, looking across the lake to the island of Ischia. However, on the back of a related <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/chalk" title="Glossary definition for 'Chalk'"><span>chalk</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a>, now in the British Museum (Department of Prints and Drawings), Wilson described the view as 'The Lake of Avernus, Monte Nuovo, Island of Capra, &amp; Part of Baya'. The viewpoint in both the drawing and the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> is taken from the north shore of Lake Avernus. In the mid-ground, at the left of the lake, is the ruin of a Roman bath, then thought to be the Temple of Apollo. Rising up behind is the Monte Nuovo. Beyond the lake, towards the right, can be glimpsed the Gulf of Pozzuoli, dotted with sailing craft. On the horizon lies the island of Capri and, at the extreme right, the peninsula of Baiae. 

</p><p>Wilson travelled to Italy in 1750, remaining there until 1756, or possibly 1757. The drawing referred to above was made by Wilson in Italy, probably sometime between 1754 and 1756. The painting, however, has been dated on stylistic grounds to around 1760, by which time Wilson was working in London.

</p><p>Lake Avernus is situated near Cumae, to the northwest of Naples. It lies among the Phlegraean ('Burning') Fields, a volcanic terrain, which according to <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/classicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Classicism'"><span>classical</span></a> mythology was identified with the underworld, or 'Hades'. The entrance to Hades lay in a nearby grotto inhabited by the prophetess, Deiphobe, the Cumaean Sibyl. In <i>The Aeneid</i>, the celebrated epic poem by Virgil (70-19 BC), which tells the legend of the founding of the Roman nation, the Sibyl assists the Trojan prince, Aeneas, to enter Hades, where his father's ghost foretells his destiny as the founder of the Roman nation. As David Solkin has noted, this, and other associated legends, ensured that Avernus was a major attraction for <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/grand-tour" title="Glossary definition for 'Grand Tour'"><span>Grand Tourists</span></a> and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Solkin, p.203).

</p><p>Wilson's viewpoint in the present picture is close to the entrance to the grotto of the Cumaean Sibyl, looking towards the so-called Temple of Apollo. As Robin Hamlyn has stated, 'Wilson appears to reinforce the historical association with Apollo, the Sun God to whom, on first landing in Italy, Aeneas vowed to build a temple, by showing the sun setting behind this "temple"' (Hamlyn, p.65).

</p><p>The early history of the picture is unknown. David Solkin has suggested that it may have been the view of 'Avernus' bought by the banker Henry Hoare (1705-85) from Wilson in 1760, and which Hoare displayed in his country seat at Stourhead, Wiltshire. Certainly, this would have been an appropriate environment for Wilson's picture since Hoare had constructed at Stourhead a magnificent classically inspired landscaped garden, complete with a grotto and lake. 

</p><p>The first recorded owner of the picture was Sir John Pringle, at whose sale Sir Richard Vernon (1774-1849) acquired it in 1843. The picture was presented to the National Gallery in 1847 by Vernon and subsequently transferred to the Tate Gallery.

</p><p><b>Further reading:

</b></p><p>David H. Solkin, <i>Richard Wilson. The Landscape of Reaction</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery 1982, p.203, no.90, reproduced<br/>Robin Hamlyn, <i>Robert Vernon's gift. British Art for the Nation 1847</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery 1993, p.65

</p><p>Martin Postle<br/>June 2001</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>
Lake Avernus, near Naples, lies in the volcanic region of the Phlegraean ('Burning') Fields. In classical mythology these were the site of the Underworld, or 'Hades'. The entrance to Hades was said to lie in a nearby grotto, inhabited by a prophetess known as the Cumaean Sibyl.</p>
<p>
In Virgil's epic poem, The Aeneid, the Sibyl helps Aeneas, the Trojan prince, to enter Hades. There his father's ghost foretells his destiny as the founder of the Roman nation. Such associations made Lake Avernus a major attraction for <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> artists and travellers on the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/grand-tour" title="Glossary definition for 'Grand Tour'"><span>Grand Tour</span></a>. 
</p>

Display caption
2004-09-08T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
adults boat, sailing coast countries and continents hill island Italy Italy, Capri lake Lake Avernus Lake Avernus landscape man mythical, religious, fictional natural features (non-UK) people places sea seascapes and coasts society sunset times of the day transport: water water: inland wooded