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 Study of a River, Perhaps near Eton College c.1818

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Study of a River, Perhaps near Eton College’ c.1818
Folio 68 Verso:
Study of a River, Perhaps near Eton College c.1818
D12525
Turner Bequest CLVIII 68a
Pencil on white wove paper, 125 x 247 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
It is difficult to tell exactly what Turner was looking at or where he might have been when he produced this rough sketch, which is inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. There are the outlines of some trees on the right-hand side of the sheet whilst some curving lines in the centre of the composition suggest the presence of a body of water, perhaps a river.
The recto, with an unrelated pencil sketch, is D12524.
See the sketchbook’s Introduction for general notes on possible locations and dating.
Technical notes:
There are some grey marks across the top of the page, likely offset from the watercolour study on folio 69 recto opposite (D12526).

Caitlin Doley
July 2024

How to cite

Caitlin Doley, ‘Study of a River, Perhaps near Eton College 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/study-of-a-river-perhaps-near-eton-college-r1208949, accessed 26 August 2025.