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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Berwick Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Manchester, Blackfriar's Bridge 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Manchester, Blackfriar's Bridge’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Verso:
Manchester, Blackfriar’s Bridge 1831
D25703
Turner Bequest CCLXV 34a
Pencil on white wove paper, 59 x 96 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is one of several sketches that Turner made in Manchester near Blackfriar’s Bridge and the collegiate church (later cathedral) (see folio 34; D25702). The bridge over the River Irwell is recognisable by the Doric arches on its piers, and the view is similar to an engraving by James Parry, Black Friar’s Bridge, Manchester, 1821 (Manchester City Art Galleries) where a church tower (perhaps St Mary’s) with a steeple can also be seen in the distance.1 The same church may be depicted on folio 37 (D25708). To the left are a cluster of factories of cotton mills.
There are similar sketches on folios 35 verso and 36 (D25705, D25706), and the sketch on the facing page of this sketchbook (folio 35; D25704) may depict the view in the opposite direction.

Thomas Ardill
September 2011

1
Another almost identical composition by William Westall was engraved by Edward Finden and published by Charles Tilt for Great Britain Illustrated, 1830.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Manchester, Blackfriar’s Bridge 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2011, 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-manchester-blackfriars-bridge-r1134067, accessed 19 April 2024.