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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > Thames Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Wooded River Scene, Probably on the River Thames near Isleworth; a City or Royal Barge, ?with a Uniformed Crew Member c.1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Wooded River Scene, Probably on the River Thames near Isleworth; a City or Royal Barge, ?with a Uniformed Crew Member’ c.1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 71 Verso:
A Wooded River Scene, Probably on the River Thames near Isleworth; a City or Royal Barge, ?with a Uniformed Crew Member c.1825
D18679
Turner Bequest CCXII 71a
Pencil on white wove paper, 188 x 114 mm
Part watermark ‘lee | 819’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ above centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically, at the top is a rapid study of a wooded view, possibly with a bridge or building on the right. The setting is probably the River Thames around Isleworth, perhaps at Kew; see the sketchbook’s Introduction.
Below is a very slight outline of he cabin and stern of a barge, probably one of those owned by the City of London and the livery companies and used for formal occasions and pageants on the River Thames, or perhaps a royal vessel associated with Kew Palace. The figure beside it is perhaps one of the uniformed crew. See under folio 4 recto (D18600) for further discussion, and compare the study of what seems to be a different ceremonial craft on folio 72 recto opposite (D18680).

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Wooded River Scene, Probably on the River Thames near Isleworth; a City or Royal Barge, ?with a Uniformed Crew Member c.1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, 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-wooded-river-scene-probably-on-the-river-thames-near-r1172798, accessed 12 June 2025.