Joseph Mallord William Turner

Trees by the River Thames: Bridge in the Distance

1805

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
Thames, from Reading to Walton Sketchbook
Medium
Graphite and watercolour on paper
Dimensions
Support: 257 x 368 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference
D05950
Turner Bequest XCV 46

Catalogue entry

This is a right-hand page from the sketchbook. Finberg notes that when exhibited at the National Gallery the subject was ‘probably erroneously’ described as Cowley, near Crediton, Devon. Gage compares this ‘very exceptional watercolour of a frieze of trees and a bridge’ to an oil sketch Trees beside the River, with Bridge in the Middle Distance (Tate N02692)1 while Butlin and Joll compare it to another oil sketch (Tate N05519)2 with a tentative identification as Kew Bridge. Hill illustrates it as Richmond, and from the Middlesex bank, but this too seems doubtful.
With quick brushwork and informal, unstructured design this watercolour has been widely seen as representing Turner’s most naturalistic, spontaneous treatment of Thames scenery while living at Isleworth. Wilton, on the other hand, argues for ‘a sophistication of purpose that goes rather further than that of a direct plein-air sketch’ and notes the similarity of the wooded setting to others that Turner used for classical and literary subjects.3
1
Butlin and Joll 1984, p.118 no.169 (pl.169).
2
Ibid., p.117 no.165 (pl.165).
3
Wilton in Wilton and Mallord Turner 1990, p.122.
Verso:
Blank, save for traces of blue watercolour.

David Blayney Brown
February 2009

Read full Catalogue entry

Explore

You might like

Left Right
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Group of Trees by the Thames’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner Group of Trees by the Thames

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees by the Thames, Wittenham Clumps in the Distance’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees by the Thames, Wittenham Clumps in the Distance

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees by the River Thames at Barnes, with Old Putney Bridge in the Distance’ c.1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees by the River Thames at Barnes, with Old Putney Bridge in the Distance

c.1827
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The River Thames and Shillingford Bridge from the West, Benson Church in the Distance’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner The River Thames and Shillingford Bridge from the West, Benson Church in the Distance

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?On the River Thames above Marlow’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?On the River Thames above Marlow

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘View on the Thames’ 1805–6

Joseph Mallord William Turner View on the Thames

1805–6
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The River Thames with Isleworth Ferry’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner The River Thames with Isleworth Ferry

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?On the River Thames above Marlow’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?On the River Thames above Marlow

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees by the Thames’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees by the Thames

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The River Thames and Shillingford Bridge from the East, with Dorchester Abbey in the Distance to the Right; Wittenham Clumps above the Hotel to the Left’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner The River Thames and Shillingford Bridge from the East, with Dorchester Abbey in the Distance to the Right; Wittenham Clumps above the Hotel to the Left

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Thames with Walton Bridge in the Distance’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Thames with Walton Bridge in the Distance

1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees by the Thames’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees by the Thames

1805
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Trees by the River Thames at Barnes, with Hammersmith Bridge in the Distance; Buildings beyond a Canal Bridge, Possibly in the Midlands’ c.1827–30

Joseph Mallord William Turner Trees by the River Thames at Barnes, with Hammersmith Bridge in the Distance; Buildings beyond a Canal Bridge, Possibly in the Midlands

c.1827–30
View by appointment
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Thames with Walton Bridge in the Distance’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Thames with Walton Bridge in the Distance

1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The River Thames and Kew Bridge, with Brentford Eyot in the Foreground and Strand-on-Green Seen through the Arches: Low Tide’ 1805

Joseph Mallord William Turner The River Thames and Kew Bridge, with Brentford Eyot in the Foreground and Strand-on-Green Seen through the Arches: Low Tide

1805