In 2001 this watercolour, which had previously not been known to Turner scholars, was placed on long term loan at Tate Britain, London. Dating to circa 1796, its reemergence from a British private collection caused great excitement. It was quickly recognized - due to its scale, its sophisticated painterly technique and its iconic subject matter - to be amongst the most important of Turner’s surviving watercolours from the 1790s - a time that saw his star rapidly rising and a decade that set him on his unstoppable path to becoming the preeminent artist of his generation.

In 1796 Turner turned twenty-one. That year, he would exhibit 10 watercolours and an oil painting at the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition and he was already attracting commissions from leading collectors such as Sir Richard Colt-Hoare of Stourhead and the Viscount Malden of Cassiobury Park. His rivalry with Thomas Girtin (1775-1802), his exact contemporary, was also in full swing and this may have acted as a catalysit for his desire to create the present work, for in 1795, Girtin had shown Turner his hugely impressive St Paul’s Cathedral from St Martin’s-le-Grand, London, a watercolour that now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Whatever his motivation, here Turner has created a scintillating panorama, composed of water, architecture and everyday life; elements that co-exist under a vast and luminous sky.

Following in the tradition of Canaletto, who painted London in the 1740s and 1750s, Turner has opted to use a ‘wide angle lens’ to capture the whole expanse of this iconic scene. As the river Thames flows under Westminster Bridge, the Abbey, Westminster Hall, and Inigo Jones’ Banqueting House are all prominent on the far side. To the right of the bridge stands Lambeth Gatehouse, while in the distance, the elegant classical façade of Sir William Chamber Somerset House, home at the time to the Royal Academy, shimmers in the early evening light. Turner leaves no doubt as to his view-point, for he has helpfully inscribed the word ‘Vauxhall’, on the beached boat in the foreground.

Turner has clearly enjoyed injecting real life into this grand cityscape. Ferrymen are at work, pulling a boat ashore, or rowing a party of elegantly dressed people across the water – perhaps returning from the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, for which the area was celebrated. Other vessels can be seen, including the brown-sailed Thames barges that were used to transport goods up and down the river and around the south-east of England. One of these boats proudly displays a Union Jack at the top of its mast, which seems to direct the eye towards the great buildings of Westminster.

Turner knew the sights and smells of London intimately, having been born the son of a barber in Covent Garden. He was to keep a house (and studio) in the capital throughout his life and he ended his days in a Chelsea cottage which enjoyed commanding views over the Thames. Despite the many years Turner spent in the city, he painted it comparatively little and those works that do survive are very largely held in museums.¹ The present work’s rarity is illustrated by the fact that the last time a Turner depicting central London appeared at auction was over a quarter of a century ago.²

We are delighted to include Turner’s watercolour within the Jubilee sale, a unique auction that has come to fruition in order to celebrate Her Majesty’s long reign. Many of the buildings that feature in the watercolour have immediate connections to the Queen, not least because Westminster lies at the heart of modern London but also because it was at Westminster Abbey, on 2 June 1953, that the Queen was crowned.

1. For other views of Westminster by Turner see: A. Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, nos. 96, 138, 522, 1094, P359, P364

2. J.M.W. Turner, London: Autumnal Morning, 1801, London, Christie’s, 2 April 1996, lot 30