J. M. W. Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons - 1835

“The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons” — 1835

Along with thousands of other spectators, Turner himself witnessed the Burning of Parliament from the south bank of the River Thames, opposite Westminster. He made sketches using both pencil and watercolour in two sketchbooks from different vantage points, including from a rented boat, although it is unclear that the sketches were made instantly, en plein air. The sketchbooks were left by Turner to the National Gallery as part of the Turner Bequest and are now held by the Tate Gallery. Some other sketches in Turner’s sketchbooks, previously thought to also show the Burning of Parliament, have been reassessed and may be sketches of the fire that destroyed the Grand Storehouse at the Tower of London on 30 October 1841.