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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Copy-Drawings 1794-8 > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner A Coach Crossing a Two-Arched Bridge, with a Weeping Willow ?1796

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A Coach Crossing a Two-Arched Bridge, with a Weeping Willow’ ?1796
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
A Coach Crossing a Two-Arched Bridge, with a Weeping Willow ?1796
D00860
Turner Bequest XXXII D
Watercolour, pencil and scraping-out on white wove paper, 226 x 288 mm
Stamped in black ‘XXXII D’ bottom right
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The predominantly grey tonality of the drawing is characteristic of this series, though Turner has used a limited range of colours as well. The combination of water, bridge, clumped foliage and distant hill is typical, though the weeping willow is unusual, presenting as it does special technical problems. The coach crossing the bridge is a characteristically lively Turnerian invention.
The inscription on the verso (D40056) is helpful in confirming that this is a representative example of Turner’s style as a teacher.

Andrew Wilton
April 2012

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘A Coach Crossing a Two-Arched Bridge, with a Weeping Willow ?1796 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-a-coach-crossing-a-two-arched-bridge-with-a-weeping-willow-r1140051, accessed 21 November 2024.