Joseph Mallord William Turner

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the main view shows a cluster of spires and domes on the left and the blank façade of the Custom House, looking north from the River Thames, as so frequently shown in Turner’s Thames sketchbooks. See the overall Introduction to the present section for Turner’s interest in the waterfront below Old London Bridge at this time.

Finberg’s mention of the ‘Shot Tower’1 which then stood on the south bank is apparently in error. He also coupled this sketch with that on folio 36 recto opposite (D17823), as if they were continuous, but the only element to overlap is the south-west turret of the White Tower, carried over from the general view of the Tower of London on the other page. At the top left is a detail of shipping, and at the top right a slighter reprise of the main view.

For other London and Thames views in the present book, see under folio 2 recto (D17775).