Joseph Mallord William Turner, R.A.

Thomas Hardwick (1752-1829);
by family decent until Philip C. Hardwick, by 1887;
sale, London, Christie’s, 9 April 1920, lot 147, bt. D.C. Thompson;
D.C. Thompson;
with the Kennedy, Galleries, New York;
Private Collection, America

London, Burlington House, 1887;
London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1884

Sir W. Armstrong, Turner, London 1902, p. 259;
A. Finberg, The History of Turner's Liber Studiorum, London 1924, p. 251;
E. Shanes, Young Mr Turner (The First Forty Years), New Haven and London 2016, p. 20

Although some of the pigments have softened with time, overall their condition is good. The sheet has discoloured in places and there is a brown mount stain along the upper edge of the sheet. There is a repaired tear running horizontally from left to right, starting at the textrmee left edge in the house's roof. This can only be seen on close inspection. There is a small rubbed area in the lower left hand corner, crossing the river wall. The work is laid down.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Both the present watercolour and the work in the following lot were painted by Turner in 1789. Despite his youth - at the tender age of fourteen - Turner was by this time determined to become an artist and his father was already successfully selling his pictures from his barber's shop in Covent Garden. In 1789 Turner was busy. He left school and was employed by John Raphael Smith, a leading printmaker, to hand-colour mezzotint engravings in his thriving studio. That year he began an apprenticeship with the landscape painter, Thomas Malton (1748-1804) and - in the summer - he worked for the architect Thomas Hardwick (1752-1829), 'supplying skies and landscape surrounds for elevations drawings'.¹ At the end of the year he applied to the Royal Academy Schools, to which he would gain entry early in 1790.

The present work was commissioned by Thomas Hardwick and is based on a pencil drawing that survives in the Turner Bequest in his so-called Oxford Sketchbook'.² Turner depicts All Saints Church in the village of Isleworth, an ancient place which lies on the River Thames in present day west London. The church dates from the 14^th century but was largely destroyed by a fire in 1943. Turner shows the view from the river and has included a number of Thames barges, whose large sails and geometric rigging punctuate the complex composition. Eric Shanes described the watercolour as 'a small tour de force by a boy of fourteen', also noting that the work is Turner's earliest surviving nautical watercolour.²

Turner's watercolour: St Mary the Virgin at Wanstead (following lot) was also painted for Thomas Hardwick. Today, the village of Wanstead is part of north-east Greater London; however in the late 18^th century it was very much a rural village. In 1787 Hardwick was commissioned to build a new church there, to replace the medieval one shown in Turner's watercolour. His new church was finished in 1790, whereupon the old one was dismantled. 

Framing his oval composition with trees, Turner portrays the dilapidated structure surrounded by fields and woodland. In the foreground a man digs a grave while another, who is elegantly dressed in a long blue coat and tall black hat, leans on a cane, observing. Although no preparatory drawing survives for this composition, the Oxford Sketchbook contains a pencil drawing by Turner of Hardwick's 'New Church' at Wanstead. The whereabouts of the finished watercolour of that composition is currently unknown. 

Both these remarkable watercolours remained in the collection of Thomas Hardwick and his descendants until they were sold at Christie’s in 1920. They have not appeared in public since.

1. E. Shanes, op. cit, New Haven and London 2016, p. 19
2. Oxford Sketchbook, 1789, Turner Bequest II 4
3. E. Shanes, op. cit, New Haven and London 2016, p. 28