Joseph Mallord William Turner

Manchester, Blackfriar’s Bridge

1831

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of
Berwick Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 59 × 96 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D25703
Turner Bequest CCLXV 34 a

Catalogue entry

This is one of several sketches that Turner made in Manchester near Blackfriar’s Bridge and the collegiate church (later cathedral) (see folio 34; D25702). The bridge over the River Irwell is recognisable by the Doric arches on its piers, and the view is similar to an engraving by James Parry, Black Friar’s Bridge, Manchester, 1821 (Manchester City Art Galleries) where a church tower (perhaps St Mary’s) with a steeple can also be seen in the distance.1 The same church may be depicted on folio 37 (D25708). To the left are a cluster of factories of cotton mills.
There are similar sketches on folios 35 verso and 36 (D25705, D25706), and the sketch on the facing page of this sketchbook (folio 35; D25704) may depict the view in the opposite direction.

Thomas Ardill
September 2011

1
Another almost identical composition by William Westall was engraved by Edward Finden and published by Charles Tilt for Great Britain Illustrated, 1830.

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right