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 ... > Thames Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A River Scene c.1825

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A River Scene’ c.1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Recto:
A River Scene c.1825
D18624
Turner Bequest CCXII 21
Watercolour on white wove paper, 114 x 188 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘21’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXII – 21’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of a sequence of twenty-five recto pages of watercolour landscape, sea and sky compositions between folio 9 recto (D18609) and folio 34 recto (D18638), many of which evoke quiet Thames Valley scenes with water in the foreground; for a checklist and general comments, see the sketchbook’s Introduction. Here the effect is perhaps of a passing shower.
Technical notes:
The adventitious dark swirl towards the bottom right may be where Turner has tested a pen.
Verso:
Blank, save for slight touch of blue watercolour at top left, presumably from when the watercolour composition on folio 22 recto opposite (D18625) was in progress.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A River Scene c.1825 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-a-river-scene-r1172742, accessed 25 April 2024.