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 ... > Old London Bridge Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Old London Bridge from the Southwark Side of the Pool of London, with St Magnus the Martyr's Church and the Monument Beyond; the Tower of Southwark Cathedral ?1824

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Old London Bridge from the Southwark Side of the Pool of London, with St Magnus the Martyr's Church and the Monument Beyond; the Tower of Southwark Cathedral’ ?1824
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Recto:
Old London Bridge from the Southwark Side of the Pool of London, with St Magnus the Martyr’s Church and the Monument Beyond; the Tower of Southwark Cathedral ?1824
D17892
Turner Bequest CCV 34
Pencil on white wove paper, 98 x 162 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘9’ above centre
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘34’ top left, upside down
Stamped in black ‘CCV – 34’ top left, upside down
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the main view is to the north, with the downstream side of Old London Bridge in steep perspective from the River Thames; the Tower of St Magnus the Martyr’s Church and the Monument stand beyond on the north bank.
Towards the gutter and the other way up are a study of the tower of Southwark Cathedral and an enlarged detail of one of its lancet windows. As the cathedral is south-west of the bridge, these were probably drawn when Turner was sketching the upstream side on folio 33 verso opposite (D17891).
More than half the drawings in this sketchbook show the river around the bridge, and are likely to date from 1824; see the Introduction.

Matthew Imms
December 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Old London Bridge from the Southwark Side of the Pool of London, with St Magnus the Martyr’s Church and the Monument Beyond; the Tower of Southwark Cathedral ?1824 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-old-london-bridge-from-the-southwark-side-of-the-pool-of-r1172606, accessed 20 February 2025.