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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Hewick Bridge, Ripon 1816

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Verso:
Hewick Bridge, Ripon 1816
D10931
Turner Bequest CXLIV 34a
Pencil on white wove paper, 97 x 154 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Ale’, ‘corn’
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Hewick Bridge carries the Boroughbridge road across the River Ure about a mile east of Ripon, near the racecourse, and survives much as Turner sketched it here. The tower in the fields beyond, however, is somewhat mysterious; nor is it altogether obvious whether Turner is looking north or south. There is nothing marked on the first (1856) Ordnance Survey in either direction that would offer any clue. Turner’s inscription ‘Ale’ is also puzzling unless it describes the colour of the river water.

David Hill
January 2009

How to cite

David Hill, ‘Hewick Bridge, Ripon 1816 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-hewick-bridge-ripon-r1144119, accessed 29 March 2024.