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 1811 > Devonshire Coast, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The River Parrett at Bridgwater 1811

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The River Parrett at Bridgwater’ 1811
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 160 Recto:
The River Parrett at Bridgwater 1811
D08662
Turner Bequest CXXIII 157
Pencil on white wove writing paper, 75 x 117 mm
Part watermark ‘Smy | 179’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Road] | Bridgwater’ bottom left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘157’ bottom right, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXIII – 157’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner shows the River Parrett from south-east of Bridgwater, crossed in the distance by the 1797 cast-iron Town Bridge (manufactured at Coalbrookdale but replaced in 1883)1 with its spandrels composed of diminishing circles. The slender spire of St Mary’s Church is towards the left. Beyond the bridge are the masts of cargo vessels which navigated the meandering tidal river from Bridgwater Bay, about seven miles to the north as the crow flies. Today the later Broadway bridge provides a similar viewpoint.
1
See R.A. Otter, Southern England, Civil Engineering Heritage, London 1994, pp.94–5, inluding photograph of the earlier bridge on p.94.
Technical notes:
There is some ink offsetting in the sky, from the inscription on folio 159 verso opposite (D08661; CXXIII 156a).
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
June 2011

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The River Parrett at Bridgwater 1811 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 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-the-river-parrett-at-bridgwater-r1137140, accessed 19 April 2024.