'Shrewsbury: The Town seen from the River with the New English Bridge in the Foreground', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Shrewsbury: The Town seen from the River with the New English Bridge in the Foreground

From Drawings Made on the Midland Tour

Date 1794

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 216 x 274 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D00331

Turner Bequest XXI E

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Shrewsbury: The Town seen from the River with the New English Bridge in the Foreground 1794

D00331
Turner Bequest XXI E

Pencil on white wove paper, 216 x 274 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXI E’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

A finished watercolour was based on this drawing (private collection).1 It is possible that Turner intended the subject to be engraved in his series for Walker’s Copper-Plate Magazine, several of which are general views of towns. No plate was in fact made of it. Finberg refers to the subject as ‘New Welsh Bridge’. The English Bridge was built between 1768 and 1774 to a design by John Gwynne.

Wilton 1979, p.314 no.136, reproduced.

Technical notes:

The sheet is slightly irregular, with the top edge sloping down to the right.

Verso:

Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Mr Lyte’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed in a later hand ‘4’. For ‘Mr Lyte’ see Tate D00354 and D40238 (Turner Bequest XXII A, Aa verso).

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.