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 and Yorkshire 1814-17 > Devon Rivers, No.1 Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Launceston from the Polson Bridge on the River Tamar 1814

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Launceston from the Polson Bridge on the River Tamar’ 1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 115 Recto:
Launceston from the Polson Bridge on the River Tamar 1814
D09607
Turner Bequest CXXXII 115
Pencil on white wove paper, 90 x 152 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘115’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXII – 115’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Polson Bridge is about a mile and a half east of Launceston on the River Tamar. The town’s castle is seen on the skyline to west on the left. The rather makeshift-looking bridge here has since been replaced but the original structure is shown clearly in Joseph Farington’s 1813 engraving Poulton Bridge and Launceston (impression: Government Art Collection, London). Turner recorded the same view in more detail in the contemporary Devonshire Rivers, No. 3, and Wharfedale sketchbook (Tate D09826; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 34), and also a view of the other side of the bridge, looking eastwards up the valley (Tate D09825; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 33).
The bridge is mentioned in a note in the Devon Rivers, No.2 sketchbook (Tate D09732; Turner Bequest CXXXIII 51a).

Matthew Imms
June 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Launceston from the Polson Bridge on the River Tamar 1814 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-launceston-from-the-polson-bridge-on-the-river-tamar-r1147156, accessed 24 September 2024.