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 ... > London Bridge and Portsmouth Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Coffer-Dam and Piledrivers on the River Thames above Old London Bridge, with the Shot Tower Beyond 1824

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Coffer-Dam and Piledrivers on the River Thames above Old London Bridge, with the Shot Tower Beyond’ 1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Verso:
A Coffer-Dam and Piledrivers on the River Thames above Old London Bridge, with the Shot Tower Beyond 1824
D17953
Turner Bequest CCVI 21a
Pencil on white wove paper, 100 x 93 mm
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page shows the central arches of Old London Bridge from the west, looking down the River Thames. There is a brief continuation to the left on folio 20 verso (D40967), but the main focus in on construction work towards the south bank for the new London Bridge across folio 22 recto opposite (D17954), under which the subject is discussed.
Technical notes:
Either through a production fault or Turner’s tearing it out, the outer half is missing, leaving a rough edge; a slight continuation across to the previous verso (folio 20 verso; D40967) indicates that the leaf was already in this condition when the drawing was made.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘A Coffer-Dam and Piledrivers on the River Thames above Old London Bridge, with the Shot Tower 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-a-coffer-dam-and-piledrivers-on-the-river-thames-above-old-r1172671, accessed 19 September 2024.