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 > Review at Portsmouth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The River Tamar 1814

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The River Tamar’ 1814
Folio 4 Recto:
The River Tamar 1814
D09990
Turner Bequest CXXXVI 4
Pencil on white wove paper, 82 x 119 mm
Inscribed in red ink ‘4’ bottom left, descending vertically (smudged)
Stamped in black ‘CXXXVI – 4’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, this light sketch of a countryside vista depicts the River Tamer flowing from the foreground into the background of the composition, flanked on either side by the valley's rolling hills. There is a small building, cast in shadow on the left bank of the river.
For other views along the Tamar Valley in this sketchbook, see folios 3 to 16 (D09989–D10002).
Verso:
Blank

Vanessa Otim
March 2025

How to cite

Vanessa Otim, ‘The River Tamar 1814’, catalogue entry, March 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, July 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/the-river-tamar-r1213892, accessed 31 July 2026.