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 ... > Thames Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?The River Thames from Richmond Hill c.1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?The River Thames from Richmond Hill’ c.1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 90 Recto:
?The River Thames from Richmond Hill c.1825
D18702
Turner Bequest CCXII 90
Pencil on white wove paper, 114 x 188 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘90’ top left, upside down [now very faint]
Stamped in black ‘CCXII – 90’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, this rapid sketch shows what is probably the view west down to the River Thames from Richmond Hill, with a house and slight indications of figures. Compare the view on folio 89 verso opposite (D18701) and see under folio 5 verso (D18603) for other views in this sketchbook and related works. They are among those which would have generally informed two watercolours: Richmond Hill of about 1825 (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight),1 engraved in 1826 for the Literary Souvenir (Tate impression: T06132); and Richmond Terrace, Surrey of about 1836 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool),2 engraved in 1838 for the Picturesque Views in England and Wales (Tate impressions: T04611, T06128).
At the top right is a slight continuation from a figure study on the opposite page.
1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.359 no.518, pl.135.
2
Ibid., p.403 no.879, reproduced.
Technical notes:
There is a repair to a diagonal tear at the top right and another at the bottom right of the drawing, along the gutter.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?The River Thames from Richmond Hill c.1825 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-the-river-thames-from-richmond-hill-r1172821, accessed 24 April 2024.