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Joseph Mallord William Turner (English, 1775–1851)
The Bay of Baiae, with Apollo and the Sibyl, exhibited 1823
Oil on canvas; 57 1/4 x 94 in. (145.5 x 239 cm)
Tate, London, Turner Bequest, 1856
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Turner had sketched the Bay of Baie, west of Naples, during his 1819 tour of Italy. This painting, though, represents an idealized view of the site, owing more to the landscapes of Claude Lorrain than to nature as directly observed—a fact that was not lost on Turner's contemporaries. When the painting was first exhibited in 1823, Turner's friend the artist George Jones (1786–1869) playfully wrote on the frame, SPLENDIDE MENDAX ("splendid lie")—allegedly, Turner never removed it.
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