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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Bickleigh Bridge on the River Exe 1814

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 72 Recto:
Bickleigh Bridge on the River Exe 1814
D09765
Turner Bequest CXXXIII 72
Pencil on white wove paper, 110 x 178 mm
Part watermark ‘Fell | 18’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘[?Mill]’ centre left, and ‘Bickly Bridge’ bottom centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘72’ bottom right, descending vertically, and ‘294’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIII 72’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The sketch shows the Exe Valley to the south from the Exeter-Tiverton road, with Bickleigh Bridge on the right and Bickleigh Castle (or Court) in the distance towards the left at the foot of the wooded slopes. Trees on the banks beyond the bridge now obscure the view. The house is seen from the opposite direction on folio 71 recto (D09764).
An aquatint by Daniel Havell after Henry Haseler for J. Chaplin’s Picturesque Views on the River Exe, (Tiverton 1819) shows much the same view (Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter).

Matthew Imms
July 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Bickleigh Bridge on the River Exe 1814 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 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-bickleigh-bridge-on-the-river-exe-r1147316, accessed 29 March 2024.