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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Copy-Drawings 1794-8 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Bridge at Lewes, Sussex ?1796

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Bridge at Lewes, Sussex’ ?1796
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Bridge at Lewes, Sussex ?1796
D00858
Turner Bequest XXXII B
Pencil and watercolour on white wove paper, 151 x 216 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXXII B’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The subject seems to have been copied from a drawing, probably by Michael Angelo Rooker (1746–1801), based on Rooker’s study of Lewes Bridge now in the Sussex Archaeological Society, Lewes (LEWSA.VR3199). The connection was made by Farrant, who suggests that Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) possessed Rooker’s finished watercolour, and that Turner copied it for use as a pupil’s copy-drawing in the course of his attendance at Monro’s ‘Academy’ (see the introduction to the ‘Monro School’ section of the present catalogue).
A copy, presumably from Turner’s drawing by one of his own pupils, is Tate D40250 (Turner Bequest XXXI D [verso]). Farrant draws attention to a further version of the subject by Alexander Monro (1802–1844), presumably taken from the Rooker drawing in his father Dr Monro’s collection rather than from Turner’s version (Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, B1975.3.879).
Verso:
Grey, brown and buff colour trials; inscribed in brush and grey colour ‘68’ (twice) and ‘Lewes Sussex’; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Bridge at Lewes, Sussex ?1796 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-a-bridge-at-lewes-sussex-r1140053, accessed 19 April 2024.