Joseph Mallord William Turner

The page contains a sketch, drawn horizontally, of a stretch of river with a multi-arched bridge at centre in the mid-ground. Finberg identified this sketch as a ‘Bridge near Rouen’,1 and the location has been confirmed.2 In this tranquil scene, Turner includes buildings at left and right on the river’s edges, high hills in the background, a boat on the right shore and another on the water. He conveys the river in the foreground stretching off to the left. The particular bridge depicted no longer exists, as Rouen’s bridges were destroyed during the Second World War and subsequently replaced.3

Technical notes:

There are several sweeping stains at the centre of the sketch.