J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales 1798 > Dynevor Castle Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Five-Arched Bridge over a River with Mountains Beyond 1798

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Five-Arched Bridge over a River with Mountains Beyond’ 1798
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Verso:
A Five-Arched Bridge over a River with Mountains Beyond 1798
D01518
Turner Bequest XL 32a
Pencil on white wove paper, 135 x 95 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘61’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘XL – 32 a’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The view perhaps shows the aqueduct carrying the Brecon and Monmouth Canal, in course of construction, over the Usk at Brynich, just south of Brecon. The canal was implemented by Acts of Pariament of 1794 and 1797, and opened in 1812. Another aqueduct is shown being built on folios 24 verso–23 recto (D01500–D01501; Turner Bequest XL 22a–23). Turner seems to have taken his view looking east towards the Black Mountains, with the Sugar Loaf in the distance. The subject is continued on folio 35 recto opposite (D01519; Turner Bequest 33).

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Five-Arched Bridge over a River with Mountains Beyond 1798 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-a-five-arched-bridge-over-a-river-with-mountains-beyond-r1173757, accessed 18 April 2024.