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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Monro School c.1794-8 > Collaborations with Thomas Girtin for Dr ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin A River with a Mill and Two-Arched Bridge above a Weir, with a Church on the Far Bank beneath a High Cliff c.1795-7

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin, ‘A River with a Mill and Two-Arched Bridge above a Weir, with a Church on the Far Bank beneath a High Cliff’ c.1795-7
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Thomas Girtin 1775–1802
A River with a Mill and Two-Arched Bridge above a Weir, with a Church on the Far Bank beneath a High Cliff c.1795–7
D36533
Turner Bequest CCCLXXV 12
Pencil and grey and blue wash on white wove paper, 232 x 372 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN 1794’
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCCLXXV – 12’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Provenance:
Probably commissioned by Dr Thomas Monro
Monro’s posthumous sale, Christie’s, London, 26–28 June and 1–2 July 1833 (day and lot number not known)
Bought by or on behalf of Turner
The pencil work is by Girtin. Girtin’s inscription on the verso follows the pattern of the titles he copied from drawings by John Robert Cozens (1752–1797), who was presumably responsible for the original of this subject – see the two ‘Monro School’ albums (Tate; Turner Bequest CCCLXXIII, CCCLXXIV), and Tate D36529, D36531, D36543 and D36557 (Turner Bequest CCCLXXV 8, 10, 22, 36)
Technical notes:
The sheet is faded and discoloured from prolonged exposure.
Verso:
Inscribed by Thomas Girtin in pencil ‘on the road from Florence to Rome’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A River with a Mill and Two-Arched Bridge above a Weir, with a Church on the Far Bank beneath a High Cliff c.1795–7 by Joseph Mallord William Turner, Thomas Girtin’, 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-thomas-girtin-a-river-with-a-mill-and-two-arched-bridge-r1141265, accessed 23 April 2024.