Joseph Mallord William Turner

This is the left half of a double-page spread continued to the right on folio 16 (D10897), opposite, recording the view of the Ouse Bridge, York, from the left bank, upstream, outside the Water Gate of the Guildhall. To the left two figures are bringing materials, possibly barrels, to the quayside.

The Ouse Bridge recorded here was built in the twelfth century to replace a wooden structure and acquired its large central span in the mid-sixteenth century. It was frequently recorded by artists,1 especially as it became dilapidated towards the end of the eighteenth century, and in 1816 work began on its replacement. Turner sketched it on his first visit to Yorkshire in 1797 (Tate D01071, D01074; Turner Bequest XXXV 69, 72) and returned to it in 1817 (Tate D12633; Turner Bequest CLIX 65a), shortly before it was taken down in 1818.