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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Liber Studiorum notes c.1807-19 > Liber Notes (1) Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A River Scene, Probably on the Thames near London c.1815-16

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A River Scene, Probably on the Thames near London’ c.1815-16
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 3 Recto:
A River Scene, Probably on the Thames near London c.1815–16
D10778
Turner Bequest CXLIII 3
Pencil on white wove paper, 102 x 160 mm
Partial watermark ‘J Gr | 18’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘3’ bottom left, descending vertically (now smudged and faint)
Stamped in black ‘CXLIII – 3’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subjects from here to folio 6 recto (D10781) await positive identification, but the views of Southwark Bridge preceding them (see under folio 1 recto; D10775) and the subsequent sketch of Greenwich on folio 7 recto (D10783) suggest that they are all likely to be River Thames scenes around London. Drawn with the page turned horizontally, the present sketch, with small sailing vessels and trees towards the left, suggests a setting up-river from central London, perhaps at Hammersmith or in the Richmond-Isleworth area, well known to Turner.1 The forms on the right are unclear, possibly indicating part of a bridge or perhaps a sail inverted in relation to the rest of the sketch.
1
See David Hill, Turner on the Thames: River Journeys in the Year 1805, New Haven and London 1993.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
September 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A River Scene, Probably on the Thames near London c.1815–16 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-river-scene-probably-on-the-thames-near-london-r1147664, accessed 19 April 2024.