Joseph Mallord William Turner

The full width of Old London Bridge is shown across this page and folio 23 verso opposite (D17957), looking east from upstream, with the Monument and the tower of St Magnus the Martyr on the other page, and the shot tower (now gone) on the south bank towards the right here. Also on this page are piledrivers for the ongoing construction of the coffer-dams out of which the piers of the bridge’s replacement would rise. Work had begun in March 1824, as discussed under folio 22 recto (D17954), and Turner seems to have taken the opportunity to revisit the works on 9 November, Lord Mayor’s Day; see also the sketches on folios 23 recto and 25 recto (D17956, D17960). At the top right on the present page is a small view in the other direction, with St Paul’s Cathedral to the north-west beyond the wide arches of Southwark Bridge.

As well Old London Bridge, the drawings between folios 20 verso and 34 verso (D40967, D17979) include rapid studies and notes of barges, flags, costumes and bridges along the River Thames, and appear to record or relate to that occasion, as discussed in the sketchbook’s Introduction.