Joseph Mallord William Turner

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the Tower of London is seen from the River Thames, looking north-east. Of a number of sketches which informed Turner’s watercolour of The Tower of London of about 1825 (private collection),1 this is closest to the finished design in terms of the angles and juxtaposition of the various elements, which are continued a little way onto folio 33 verso opposite (D17817). The arrangement of shipping which fills the foreground of the watercolour is taken from one of the studies on the verso (D17820).

Other Tower views are on folios 29 verso, 30 recto, 35 recto and 36 recto (D17810, D17811, D17821, D17823). For the significance of the subject in terms of a projected series of ‘Views in London and its environs’, see the overall Introduction to the present Thames-related section. The Tower of London was eventually engraved in 1831 for The Literary Souvenir (Tate impression: T06137).

In the background towards the centre, beyond the pointed roof of the Bell Tower turret, is the outline of the clock tower of the Grand Storehouse, which was later destroyed by fire, as recorded by Turner in nine vivid watercolours (Tate D27846–D27854; Turner Bequest CCLXXXIII 1–9); see the Introduction to the 1841 Fire at the Tower of London sketchbook (Tate; Turner Bequest CCLXXXIII) for that occasion and Turner’s various other treatments of the Tower.

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