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 ... > Mortlake and Pulborough Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: The Marquee beside Old London Bridge, with Boats 1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: The Marquee beside Old London Bridge, with Boats’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 7 Recto:
The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: The Marquee beside Old London Bridge, with Boats 1825
D18718
Turner Bequest CCXIII 7
Pencil on white wove paper, 113 x 187 mm
Part watermark ‘R Bar | 18’
Inscribed by Turner ‘[...]’ towards top centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘7’ bottom right (now faint)
Stamped in black ‘CCXIII – 7’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The marquee erected over the coffer-dam around the site of the southernmost pier of the new London Bridge, for the foundation stone ceremony held on the riverbed on 15 June 1825, is shown from the south bank of the River Thames, with a rough indication of the tower of St Magnus the Martyr’s Church beyond to the left. There appear to be brief notes, perhaps of colour, to the right of the large flags flying over the marquee. It is unclear whether the boats and figures towards the right formed an integral part of the scene or were observed as separate details. Compare the view on the verso (D18719).
The ceremony and other studies relating to it at the beginning and end of this sketchbook are discussed in the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘The London Bridge Foundation Stone Ceremony: The Marquee beside Old London Bridge, with Boats 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-london-bridge-foundation-stone-ceremony-the-marquee-r1172840, accessed 25 April 2024.