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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Thames sketchbooks c.1804-14 > Studies for Pictures: Isleworth ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Kew Palace and Bridge Seen through Trees, from the Middlesex Bank of the Thames near the Entrance to the Grand Union Canal 1805

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Kew Palace and Bridge Seen through Trees, from the Middlesex Bank of the Thames near the Entrance to the Grand Union Canal’ 1805
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 11 Recto:
Kew Palace and Bridge Seen through Trees, from the Middlesex Bank of the Thames near the Entrance to the Grand Union Canal 1805
D05505
Turner Bequest XC 11
Pencil and pen and ink on off-white wove paper, prepared with a grey wash, 150 x 258 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘11’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XC 11’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Hill gives a full description of the subject and viewpoint, on the Middlesex bank of the Thames near the entrance to the Grand Union Canal and the mouth of the River Brent. James Wyatt’s new Kew Palace, with its castellated roof, is clearly seen; Hill notes that the building on the left, part of which was a former windmill, was in use as a basket factory. Also noticed by Hill is the similarity of viewpoint to a watercolour formerly known as Eton College, from the Thames 1 but now identified as depicting Kew Palace (Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester).2 A sketch of a similar view, with less detail and cut off somewhat on the right, is on folio 13 of the sketchbook (D05508). Compare also the contemporary watercolour in the Hesperides (1) sketchbook (Tate D05833; Turner Bequest XCIII 38a).

David Blayney Brown
August 2007

1
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p.346 no.413.
2
Craig Hartley, Turner Watercolours in the Whitworth Art Gallery, exhibition catalogue, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester 1984, pp.37–9.

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘Kew Palace and Bridge Seen through Trees, from the Middlesex Bank of the Thames near the Entrance to the Grand Union Canal 1805 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2007, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-kew-palace-and-bridge-seen-through-trees-from-the-middlesex-r1129816, accessed 19 April 2024.