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 City Barges in the Lord Mayor's Day Pageant on the River Thames and off the Palace of Westminster 1824

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘City Barges in the Lord Mayor's Day Pageant on the River Thames and off the Palace of Westminster’ 1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Recto:
City Barges in the Lord Mayor’s Day Pageant on the River Thames and off the Palace of Westminster 1824
D17978
Turner Bequest CCVI 34
Pencil on white wove paper, 100 x 160 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘34’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCVI – 34’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The drawings between folios 20 verso and 34 verso (D40967, D17979) include rapid studies and notes of barges, flags, costumes and bridges along the River Thames, and appear to record or relate to the Lord Mayor’s Day procession of 9 November 1824, as discussed in the sketchbook’s Introduction. Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, there are five sketches here in three bands. At the top left is a reprise of more detailed sketches on folios 33 recto and verso and the verso of the present page (D17976, D17977, D17979), with City barges arriving for the Lord Mayor’s swearing-in at the Palace of Westminster; at the top right is a slighter version still. At the centre left a barge or barges pass under an arch, presumably at Westminster Bridge; to the right seems to be another version of the main theme, and the thumbnail sketch at the bottom left appears to show a further aspect of the scene.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘City Barges in the Lord Mayor’s Day Pageant on the River Thames and off the Palace of Westminster 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-city-barges-in-the-lord-mayors-day-pageant-on-the-river-r1172696, accessed 25 April 2024.