J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > London and Home Counties 1793-5 > The Thames in or near London > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner London Bridge, with the Monument and the Church of St Magnus King and Martyr ?1794-5

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘London Bridge, with the Monument and the Church of St Magnus King and Martyr’ ?1794-5
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
London Bridge, with the Monument and the Church of St Magnus King and Martyr ?1794–5
D00696
Turner Bequest XXVIII K
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 345 x 223 mm
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XXVIII K’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
In this watercolour, based on a pencil drawing (Tate D00695; Turner Bequest XXVIII J), Turner achieves a tonal unity and continuity that are, perhaps, new, and which make it difficult to date precisely. It marks a departure from the striated, jerky application of washes, reflecting the influence of Edward Dayes (1763–1804), in the watercolours that he had been producing in 1793, and could date from as late as early 1795; the sky in particular seems to suggest that date. But it was most likely executed in the latter part of 1794. Another technically sophisticated watercolour of a London subject of about this time is Tate D00684 (Turner Bequest XXVII W).
Finberg notes the pencil study D00695 as ‘Once No.66 in 3rd Loan Collection (withdrawn September 1904)’,1 but this appears to be in error, the exhibited work being listed as in colour and hence presumably the present watercolour.2
1
Finberg 1909, I, p.57.
2
See Warrell 1991, p.47.
Technical notes:
The sheet was formerly folded laterally approximately 10 mm above the lower edge.
Verso:
Blank

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘London Bridge, with the Monument and the Church of St Magnus King and Martyr ?1794–5 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-london-bridge-with-the-monument-and-the-church-of-st-magnus-r1140337, accessed 25 April 2024.