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 ... > Old London Bridge Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Old London Bridge; Stagings, Piledrivers and the Thames Waterfront ?1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Old London Bridge; Stagings, Piledrivers and the Thames Waterfront’ ?1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 33 Verso:
Old London Bridge; Stagings, Piledrivers and the Thames Waterfront ?1824
D17891
Turner Bequest CCV 33a
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 162 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Across the middle of this busy page runs the west side of the southern end of Old London Bridge. Above, against a background of waterfront buildings, piledrivers and associated equipment are shown upstream, preparing for the coffer-dams out of which the piers of the bridge’s replacement would rise. Work began in March 1824, suggesting Turner drew these preliminary operations that spring or summer. Below are studies of other buildings along the River Thames.
More than half the drawings in this sketchbook show the river around the bridge, and are all likely to date from 1824; see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Old London Bridge; Stagings, Piledrivers and the Thames Waterfront ?1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 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-old-london-bridge-stagings-piledrivers-and-the-thames-r1172605, accessed 19 April 2024.