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 ... > Mortlake and Pulborough Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: Near Old London Bridge 1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: Near Old London Bridge’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: Near Old London Bridge 1825
D18714
Turner Bequest CCXIII 5
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 187 mm
Part watermark ‘R Bar | 18’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘5’ bottom right (now faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCXIII – 5’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This slight sketch shows the River Thames in the vicinity of Old London Bridge, perhaps with boats and operations relating to the upstream construction of the bridge’s replacement. The view is continued on folio 4 verso opposite (D18713), where the flags over the marquee for the new bridge’s foundation ceremony appear to be shown.
The ceremony and other studies relating to it at the beginning and end of this sketchbook are discussed in the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: Near Old London Bridge 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-the-london-bridge-foundation-stone-ceremony-near-old-london-r1172836, accessed 25 April 2024.