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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Colour Studies of the Sun, Skies and ... > Skies Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner London from the Windows of 45 Grosvenor Place, with the Grounds of Buckingham House (now Palace), and the Spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Paul's Cathedral Beyond c.1818

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘London from the Windows of 45 Grosvenor Place, with the Grounds of Buckingham House (now Palace), and the Spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Paul's Cathedral Beyond’ c.1818
Folio 68 Recto:
London from the Windows of 45 Grosvenor Place, with the Grounds of Buckingham House (now Palace), and the Spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Paul’s Cathedral Beyond c.1818
D12524
Turner Bequest CLVIII 68
Pencil on white wove paper, 125 x 247 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘[?SL...]’ and ‘[?CG...]’ towards top middle, over two spires
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram top left
Inscribed in red ink ‘68’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CLVIII – 68’ top left, upside down
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this page and folio 67 verso opposite (D12523) form a continuous view relating to Turner’s 1819 watercolour, London, from the Windows of 45 Grosvenor Place (private collection).1 For more on previous discussions about the location of the vista shown on this page, see the entry for D12523.
When this page is viewed continuously with D12523 to its right, they unite to present a panorama of London. If the eye begins with the distinctive spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields on the left-hand side of the present page and sweeps across the grounds of Buckingham House, eventually St Paul’s Cathedral is visible in the distance, followed by Westminster Abbey on the far right of the other page. There are two more spires annotated above the skyline on this page, but it is difficult to discern exactly what Turner has written.
The verso, with an unrelated pencil sketch, is D12525.
1
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, London 1979, pp.356–7 no.398 as ‘London, from the windows of 45 Grosvenor Place, when in the possession of W. Fawkes’, c.1819, reproduced.
Technical notes:
There is some staining visible across the very edges of the leaf, possibly caused by water damage sustained during the 1928 Tate flood.

Caitlin Doley
July 2024

How to cite

Caitlin Doley, ‘London from the Windows of 45 Grosvenor Place, with the Grounds of Buckingham House (now Palace), and the Spire of St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Paul’s Cathedral Beyond c.1818’, catalogue entry, July 2024, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, October 2024, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/london-from-the-windows-of-45-grosvenor-place-with-the-grounds-of-buckingham-house-now-r1208948, accessed 05 August 2025.