Joseph Mallord William Turner

This bucolic view is perhaps looking east from the Twickenham side over the River Thames to Richmond Hill, with Richmond Bridge just visible on the left. It is closely comparable with a pen and ink drawing in the 1805 Studies for Pictures: Isleworth sketchbook (Tate D05516; Turner Bequest XC 19). David Hill has written of the retrospective character of some of Turner’s Thames studies in the 1820s (see the sketchbook’s Introduction), when he still retained his self-designed Twickenham house Sandycombe Lodge, about half a mile south-west of the bridge.1 The view of the river just downstream at Isleworth on the verso (D17786), where Turner rented a house in 1805, adds weight to the identification of the present subject. What may be another Richmond Hill view is on folio 32 verso (D17815).

The outlines and tones here are largely executed in shades of monochrome wash. Although the waterline appears is continuous, it is unclear whether the pencil drawing immediately to its left on folio 8 verso (D17784) is part of the same scene or a separate study in the neighbourhood. For other London and Thames views, see under folio 2 recto (D17775).

Technical notes:

The leaf has been torn from the book at some stage and later restored.