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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > River Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Tower of London from the River Thames; a Paddle Steamer, Probably with Another Beyond c.1823-4

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Tower of London from the River Thames; a Paddle Steamer, Probably with Another Beyond’ c.1823-4
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 36 Recto:
The Tower of London from the River Thames; a Paddle Steamer, Probably with Another Beyond c.1823–4
D17823
Turner Bequest CCIV 36
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 190 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCIV – 36’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the Tower of London is seen from the River Thames, looking north-east, with the White Tower beyond to the right (slightly extending onto folio 35 verso opposite; D17822) and the cylindrical Byward Tower and Bell Tower at the centre. This is one of a number of sketches which informed Turner’s watercolour of the Tower of about 1825 (private collection),1 as discussed in the entry for folio 34 recto (D17819), the closest to the finished design.
At the top left is a study apparently showing two paddle steamers moored side by side, which seems to be the source of the central detail of the Lord Melville and Talbot in the subsequent watercolour, albeit in reverse;2 compare the detail of shipping on folio 34 verso (D17820).
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.358 no.515.
2
See also van der Merwe 1991, p.13, and Warrell 2014, p.121.
Technical notes:
John Ruskin’s customary red ink page number beside the later stamp is not readily apparent here, although those on other leaves of this sketchbook are generally very faint.

Matthew Imms
November 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Tower of London from the River Thames; a Paddle Steamer, Probably with Another Beyond c.1823–4 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-tower-of-london-from-the-river-thames-a-paddle-steamer-r1172530, accessed 16 April 2024.