1796-1797 Watercolour on wove paper, mounted on cream card
125 x 215 mm. Bequest: George Powell 1882
This watercolour is reproduced in 'J.M.W.Turner' by Simon Wilson, 1979. An engraving of this subject was published in 'The Itinerant' in 1797. A later painting of the same view depicts the bridge burning down in the fire of 1834. This work was painted in the same year that Turner first exhibited his oil paintings at the Royal Academy
Old Westminster Bridge and the River Thames, London; foreground, river; middleground, on the right, Old Westminster Bridge with eight visible arches under two of which sail vessels, in the centre, a sailing boat and a rowing boat with a blue and white striped canopy, the latter vessel containing oarsmen and passengers; background, on the left, riverside houses, the roof of the Old House of Commons and the two towers of Westminster Abbey; sky, clear with sunset / sunrise lighting up a bank of cloud on the horizon. Painted with washes of colour with fine brushwork for detail
