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 > Greenwich Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The City of London, and Other Buildings c.1808

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The City of London, and Other Buildings’ c.1808
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Verso:
The City of London, and Other Buildings circa 1808
D06763
Turner Bequest CII 22a
Pencil on white wove paper, 76 x 115 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘PO PS’ left of centre and ‘Red’ right, below buildings
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn with the sketchbook inverted. The main sketch is of the City and St Paul’s Cathedral; see folios 21 verso–22 (D05761–D05762) for a similar view. Continuing on folio 23 (D06764) is a small sketch of a riverside building and boats. Turner’s inscription ‘PO PS’ refers to his position as Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy, to which he had been elected in December 1807. It must be carried over from the draft letter on folio 23, to the Academy Council requesting more time to prepare his lectures, or an idea for incorporating the role into his signature on his pictures. London (Tate N00483),1 based on various sketches in this book and exhibited in 1809, is signed with the initials ‘RA PP’.
There are also slight glimpses of riverside buildings at top left, extending on to folio 23 (D06764).

David Blayney Brown
March 2007

1
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984, pp.69–70 no.97 (pl.104).

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘The City of London, and Other Buildings c.1808 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 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-the-city-of-london-and-other-buildings-r1130856, accessed 23 April 2024.