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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ouse Bridge, York, from Downstream 1816

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 17 Recto:
Ouse Bridge, York, from Downstream 1816
D10899
Turner Bequest CXLIV 17
Pencil on white wove paper, 154 x 97 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Cloaths’ within image, on quay
Very faint trace of an inscription in red ink, possibly by John Ruskin, top right, and another ‘17’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXLIV 17’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is the right half of a double-page spread depicting the Ouse Bridge at York from downstream, continued on folio 16 verso (D10898), opposite. The sketch records a similar view to one made in 1797 in the Tweed and Lakes sketchbook (Tate D01071; Turner Bequest XXXV 69), but from a viewpoint on the left bank rather than in mid-river. Turner records the prospect looking along the King’s Staith past the King’s Arms inn (the twin-gabled building to the right) to the bridge with The Guildhall and Lendal Water Tower seen through the centre arch and the tower of St Martin le Grand beyond, and the spire of All Saints, North Street visible over the warehouses to the left.
For the Ouse Bridge see folio 15 verso (D10896).

David Hill
January 2009

How to cite

David Hill, ‘Ouse Bridge, York, from Downstream 1816 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-ouse-bridge-york-from-downstream-r1144086, accessed 19 September 2024.