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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Thames, London and South of England 1821 ... > Old London Bridge Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Studies of Hulls and a Rowing Boat; Fishing Boats off Billingsgate in the Pool of London below Old London Bridge, with St Paul's Cathedral Beyond ?1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Studies of Hulls and a Rowing Boat; Fishing Boats off Billingsgate in the Pool of London below Old London Bridge, with St Paul's Cathedral Beyond’ ?1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 37 Recto:
Studies of Hulls and a Rowing Boat; Fishing Boats off Billingsgate in the Pool of London below Old London Bridge, with St Paul’s Cathedral Beyond ?1824
D17898
Turner Bequest CCV 37
Pencil on white wove paper, 162 x 98 mm
Watermark ‘1821’
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘37’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCV – 37’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned vertically and the gutter at the top, Turner has sketched a figure in a rowing boat at the centre. The other way up, there are studies of the hulls of more substantial vessels towards the outer edge. With the page inverted relative to the foliation, at the gutter is an extension of the view of fishing boats off the old Billingsgate fish market on folio 36 verso opposite (D17895). The section here is limited to one of the boats, with the arches of Old London Bridge west up the River Thames beyond.
More than half the drawings in this sketchbook show the river around the bridge, and are likely to date from 1824; see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Studies of Hulls and a Rowing Boat; Fishing Boats off Billingsgate in the Pool of London below Old London Bridge, with St Paul’s Cathedral Beyond ?1824 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, December 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2015, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-studies-of-hulls-and-a-rowing-boat-fishing-boats-off-r1172612, accessed 18 April 2024.