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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Midlands 1794-1802 > Drawings Made on the Midland Tour > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Shrewsbury: The Old Welsh Bridge 1794

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Shrewsbury: The Old Welsh Bridge’ 1794
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Shrewsbury: The Old Welsh Bridge 1794
D00330
Turner Bequest XXI D
Pencil on white wove paper, 207 x 278 mm
Watermark ‘J WHATMAN’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘B’ and ‘X’ within the drawing
Stamped in black ‘XXI D’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Used as the basis for a finished watercolour exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1795 (Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester).1 The tower glimpsed beyond the bridge is that of the new church of St Chad. The old bridge itself was in the process of being demolished, to be replaced by a five-arched bridge by John Carline and John Tilley which was finished in 1795.
Finberg records ‘G’ inscribed in the drawing but this is no longer legible.
1
Wilton 1979, p.310 no.82, reproduced.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed in a later hand ‘140’.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Shrewsbury: The Old Welsh Bridge 1794 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2012, 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-shrewsbury-the-old-welsh-bridge-r1141054, accessed 22 November 2024.