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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Margate, London and Surrey c.1829-45 > Colnaghi's Account Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Old London Bridge from the East, with a Paddle Steamer c.1829-30

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Old London Bridge from the East, with a Paddle Steamer’ c.1829-30
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Recto:
Old London Bridge from the East, with a Paddle Steamer c.1829–30
D22572
Turner Bequest CCXLII 14
Pencil on white laid paper, 75 x 129 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘14’ top right, ascending vertically (now very faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCXLII – 14’ top right, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, Turner has drawn a two-part view of Old London Bridge from downstream, looking west. At the top, on the south side are the tower of St Olave’s Church, the nearby shot tower, and the pinnacles of Southwark Cathedral. Halfway across the middle is the tower of St Magnus King and Martyr’s Church, with the dome of St Paul’s beyond; to their right is a schematic elevation of the classical Custom House.
Turner was very familiar with all of these, and drew them in more detail on various other occasions; see for example the Tabley No.3, Old London Bridge and London Bridge and Portsmouth sketchbooks (Tate; Turner Bequest CV, CCX, CCVI). The sketch of a paddle steamer below may indicate that this time, travelling was involved.1 See also the similar views of around the same date in the Marine Dabblers sketchbook (Tate D22526–D22528; Turner Bequest CCXLI 55, 55a, 56), grouped with the present book in this catalogue.
This is the only London sketch in this book; for the few showing other locations, see the Introduction.
1
For steamers on this part of the Thames, see Pieter van der Merwe, ‘“Calais in Twelve Hours”: Turner’s “Tower of London” and the early cross-Channel steam packets’, Turner Society News, no.57, March 1991, pp.11–13.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
May 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Old London Bridge from the East, with a Paddle Steamer c.1829–30 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 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-old-london-bridge-from-the-east-with-a-paddle-steamer-r1148348, accessed 25 April 2024.