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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > Thames sketchbooks c.1804-14 > Hesperides (1) Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner London: St Dunstan-in-the-East and the Custom House from the Thames c.1805-6

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘London: St Dunstan-in-the-East and the Custom House from the Thames’ c.1805-6
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 14 Recto:
London: St Dunstan-in-the-East and the Custom House from the Thames circa 1805–6
D05788
Turner Bequest XCIII 14
Pen and ink and brown wash on white wove paper, prepared with a grey wash, 171 x 262 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘14’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘XCIII 14’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
For Turner’s views of the Pool and City of London in this sketchbook see note to folio 12 (D05785).
For views including the church of St Dunstan-in-the-East see folio 13 (D05786). This busy scene, crowded with barges and lighters and itself observed from a boat, includes the Custom House; another view, from a position further to the left, is on folio 15 (D05789). This is the Custom House as rebuilt by Thomas Ripley, 1715–27. As rebuilt again by David Laing, 1813–17, it appears in Turner’s watercolour of about 1825 (Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada)1 made for engraving in Views in London and its Environs. By deft use of wash, Turner wonderfully conveys shadow and reflections on the river.
1
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, pp.358–9 no.516 as ‘untraced’.
Verso:
Blank

David Blayney Brown
October 2007

How to cite

David Blayney Brown, ‘London: St Dunstan-in-the-East and the Custom House from the Thames c.1805–6 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2007, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-london-st-dunstan-in-the-east-and-the-custom-house-from-the-r1130010, accessed 22 November 2024.