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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Wales and Isle of Wight 1795-1800 > South Wales Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Monmouth: St Mary's Church and the River Monnow 1795

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Monmouth: St Mary's Church and the River Monnow’ 1795
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 60 Recto:
Monmouth: St Mary’s Church and Tibb’s Bridge on the River Monnow 1795
D00616
Turner Bequest XXVI 62
Pencil on white wove paper, laid down on white wove paper, 264 x 203 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Monmouth’ bottom centre
Stamped in black ‘XXVI 62’ bottom right
Turner has omitted from this view of the Priory Church of St Mary at Monmouth the tall, slender spire added to the fifteenth-century tower by the Worcester mason Nathaniel Wilkinson in 1743. It replaced a medieval spire, and has parallels, also by Wilkinson, in other towns of this part of the world, notably Ross-on-Wye, Ledbury and St Andrew’s, Worcester.
As Dr Michael Rowlands, author of Monnow Bridge and Gate (Stroud 1994), has noted, the bridge in the foreground is Tibb’s Bridge on the River Monnow, a wooden structure with stone piers, which does not survive;1 compare the 1794 watercolour by Thomas Hearne (1744–1817) showing a similar view (British Museum, London; 1859,0528.212).
See also the drawing of the more famous Monnow Bridge on folio 61 recto (D00617; Turner Bequest XXVI 63).
1
Dr Michael Rowlands, email to Tate, 3 February 2015; this information is here gratefully acknowledged.
Technical notes:
There are several tears, one approximately 100 mm long across the centre of the image; the sheet has been laid down.
Verso:
Blank (the sheet laid down); stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

Revised by Matthew Imms
February 2015

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Monmouth: St Mary’s Church and Tibb’s Bridge on the River Monnow 1795 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, revised by Matthew Imms, February 2015, 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-monmouth-st-marys-church-and-tibbs-bridge-on-the-river-r1140941, accessed 01 February 2025.