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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Banks of the River Thames at Barnes, with Hammersmith Bridge in the Distance c.1827

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 65 Verso:
The Banks of the River Thames at Barnes, with Hammersmith Bridge in the Distance c.1827
D22448
Turner Bequest CCXL 65a
Pencil on white wove paper, 68 x 110 mm
Inscribed by Turner ‘water’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this sketch includes the towers and cables of Hammersmith Bridge in the distance, presumably seen from the rural south bank of the River Thames at Barnes as in adjacent drawings. As discussed under folio 58 verso (D22434), where other Hammersmith views are mentioned, Turner’s studies of the bridge seem to have a rather provisional air, and may show it still under construction before its October 1827 opening. The shaded structure in the foreground is carefully observed but not readily identifiable.

Matthew Imms
August 2013

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The Banks of the River Thames at Barnes, with Hammersmith Bridge in the Distance c.1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 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-the-banks-of-the-river-thames-at-barnes-with-hammersmith-r1148598, accessed 29 March 2024.