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 > Devonshire Rivers, No.3, and Wharfedale ... > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Polson Bridge, near Launceston 1814

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Polson Bridge, near Launceston’ 1814
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 77 Recto:
Polson Bridge, near Launceston 1814
D09825
Turner Bequest CXXXIV 33
Pencil on white wove paper with gilt edges, 179 x 254 mm
Inscribed by Turner ‘Red’ on bridge centre right, and ‘Br[...] Wherry’ bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CXXXIV – 33’ 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 rather makeshift-looking bridge is here seen from the west. It has since been replaced but the original structure is shown in Joseph Farington’s 1813 engraving Poulton Bridge and Launceston (impression: Government Art Collection, London), which corresponds with the view from the other side, looking towards Launceston, on folio 78 recto (D09826; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 34).
The bridge is mentioned in a note in the contemporary Devon Rivers, No.2 sketchbook (Tate D09732; Turner Bequest CXXXIII 51a). For closer views of Launceston Castle and the surrounding town, see under folio 70 recto (D09873; Turner Bequest CXXXIV 72).
Verso:
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Matthew Imms
July 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Polson Bridge, near Launceston 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-polson-bridge-near-launceston-r1147437, accessed 09 May 2024.