Joseph Mallord William Turner

See comment to folios 11, 12 and 14 of the sketchbook (D06195, D06196, D06198), depicting Isleworth riverside scenery of which this is a further variation. With 14 it is adapted from the more literal view seen in 11, looking from the water as if from a position near All Saints’ Church and the ferry at Isleworth, but with a more neo-classical feel and pseudo-antique boats on the river as if the Thames were mutating into an ancient harbour. However, Hill draws attention to a tree and wall to the left of Robert Mylne’s Pavilion in Syon Park, visible in 11 and 12 and also in watercolours in the contemporary Thames from Reading to Walton sketchbook (Tate D05916, D05952; Turner Bequest XCV 12, 48). Their recurrence shows them to have been extant features of the Isleworth landscape, adjacent to Turner’s own Sion (or Syon) Ferry House.

Verso:

Blank