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 ... > London Bridge and Portsmouth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Boats on the River Thames off Old London Bridge and Southwark Bridge 1824

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Boats on the River Thames off Old London Bridge and Southwark Bridge’ 1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 24 Verso:
Boats on the River Thames off Old London Bridge and Southwark Bridge 1824
D17959
Turner Bequest CCVI 24a
Pencil on white wove paper, 100 x 160 mm
Watermark ‘1821’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?H | MS]’ on flag, ‘Scotch cap | white jacket’ and ‘Blu’ top right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawings between folios 20 verso and 34 verso (D40967, D17979) include rapid studies and notes of barges, flags, costumes and bridges along the River Thames, and appear to record or relate to the Lord Mayor’s Day procession of 9 November 1824, as discussed in the sketchbook’s Introduction. The small drawing at the top left probably indicates some of the narrow, irregular arches of Old London Bridge, while the main view seems to show the broad spans of Southwark Bridge, the next crossing upstream. If the vantage point for each was similar, the first is shown to the east, and the second to the west. As well as the sailing boats in these views, at the top right is a study of a small boat with a flag perhaps inscribed ‘HMS’ and figures whose dress Turner notes.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Boats on the River Thames off Old London Bridge and Southwark Bridge 1824 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-boats-on-the-river-thames-off-old-london-bridge-and-r1172677, accessed 20 September 2024.