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

This is the first of a sequence of twenty-five recto pages of watercolour landscape, sea and sky compositions, many of which evoke quiet Thames Valley scenes. The last is on folio 34 recto (D18638); for a checklist and general comments, see the sketchbook’s Introduction. Here the economy of means, the stark contrasts in tonality and the extensive areas of paper left bare in the foreground below the silhouetted bridge and the dark reflection of the trees give a sense of immediacy and contre-jour glare from the bright sky and light reflected off the river.