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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Isle of Wight 1827 > Isle of Wight Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Molesey Lock on the River Thames, with Hampton Court Bridge Beyond c.1827

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Molesey Lock on the River Thames, with Hampton Court Bridge Beyond’ c.1827
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 41 Recto:
?Molesey Lock on the River Thames, with Hampton Court Bridge Beyond c.1827
D20795
Turner Bequest CCXXVII 39
Pencil on white wove paper prepared with a grey wash, 110 x 185 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Lock | Br[...]’ top centre, and ‘Hampton C’ top right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘39’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXXVII – 39’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner’s inscriptions suggest that this rapid sketch shows Molesey Lock, on the Thames a little upriver of Hampton Court Bridge (see folios 40 recto and 42 verso; D20793, D20798; Turner Bequest CCXXVII 38, 40a), which may be indicated to the east by the vertical strokes between the trees in the distance.
The lock was constructed below the weir on the East Molesey side below Ash Island, opened in 1815 and was rebuilt in 1906;1 the weir may be shown on folio 36 recto (D20786; Turner Bequest CCXXVII 34). For other views in the Hampton Court area, including several on adjacent pages, see under folio 2 verso (D20736).

Matthew Imms
November 2015

1
See ‘Molesey Lock’, Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide, accessed 26 October 2015, http://thames.me.uk/s00380.htm.

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘?Molesey Lock on the River Thames, with Hampton Court Bridge Beyond c.1827 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2015, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-molesey-lock-on-the-river-thames-with-hampton-court-bridge-r1182655, accessed 26 April 2024.