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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Liber Studiorum notes c.1807-19 > Finance Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Reading from the River Thames c.1807-14

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Reading from the River Thames’ c.1807-14
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 25 Verso:
Reading from the River Thames c.1807–14
D08322
Turner Bequest CXXII 25a
Pencil on white wove paper, 69 x 112 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this slight sketch appears to focus on the tall tower and pinnacles of St Laurence’s Church, Reading, seen from the north; see also the similar view on folio 26 verso (D08324), inscribed with the name of the town. The rather indistinct foreground is presumably the banks of the River Thames, and the tower of Reading Minster (the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin) is in the distance on the right. Both towers are seen from across the river in the 1805 Thames, from Reading to Walton book (Tate D05905; Turner Bequest XCV 1).

St Laurence’s is adjacent to the ruins of Reading Abbey, shown on folio 24 verso (D08320), under which other Reading views are discussed; the low profile on the left of the present sketch may also indicate the ruins, but a great deal of subsequent development obscures the view today.

Matthew Imms
September 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Reading from the River Thames c.1807–14 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2013, 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-reading-from-the-river-thames-r1147798, accessed 20 September 2024.