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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country and Yorkshire 1814-17 > Devon Rivers, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Chudleigh Bridge 1814

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Chudleigh Bridge’ 1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
?Chudleigh Bridge 1814
D09486
Turner Bequest CXXXII 5
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 152 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXII – 5’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject, a rather hesitantly drawn, two-arched stone bridge seen from a riverbank with wooded ground rising beyond, is possibly the old crossing over the River Teign west of Chudleigh. This is by comparison with a 1794 watercolour of the bridge with Chudleigh Rocks beyond by the Rev. John Swete; the bridge was scheduled for demolition in late 1814, and replaced by a single-span structure.1 Later trees obscure the view to the rocks, and the proposed identification is largely prompted by the proximity of Chudleigh subjects on folios 2 recto, 3 recto and 4 recto (D09483–D09485).
There may be a coach and horses on the bridge.
1
See reproduction of the watercolour and photograph of the new bridge at ‘Parish Bridges’, Chudleigh History Group, accessed 30 May 2014, http://www.chudleighhistorygroup.com/toll-houses.html.
Technical notes:
A dark mark at the top left matches one on the opposite page (the verso of D09485; CXXXII 4).
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
June 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?Chudleigh Bridge 1814 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-chudleigh-bridge-r1147028, accessed 25 April 2024.