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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Northern France 1832 > Paris and Environs Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Pont d'Arcole, Paris 1832

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Pont d'Arcole, Paris’ 1832
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 69 Recto:
Pont d’Arcole, Paris 1832
D24301
Turner Bequest CCLVII 69
Pencil on white laid paper, 175 x 127 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘69’ top left and ‘2’ top right, ascending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLVII 69’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook turned horizontally, Turner filled the top half of this page with studies of the bridges and quaysides of central Paris. Along the top edge of the page is a sketch of the Pont d’Arcole, a newly built suspension bridge. Named after one of Napoleon’s military victories, this structure was of particular interest to the artist as he sought subjects to illustrate a new edition of Walter Scott’s Life of Napoleon Buonaparte (1834–36). There are multiple drawings of the bridge in these pages, a list of which is included in the sketchbook Introduction. These formed the basis for one of the published book’s engraved vignettes; see Tate impression T04967.

John Chu
January 2015

How to cite

John Chu, ‘Pont d’Arcole, Paris 1832 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2015, 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-pont-darcole-paris-r1175329, accessed 25 April 2024.