The Seine, looking towards the Île de la Cité, Paris

Little is known of the life of William Turner de Londe, apart from his time spent in Ireland and Scotland. He exhibited 24 paintings in an exhibition in Limerick in 1824 for which the catalogue was entitled 'Catalogue of Paintings: Exhibiting several fine Works, by the Old Masters And a Collection of Pictures by the Artists and Amateurs of Limerick'. From the works exhibited, we can deduce that he travelled extensively in Italy, as well as visiting Paris, where he executed a portrait of Bonaparte outside the Tuileries and Les Invalides. This picture has a pendant of the Duke of Wellington in St Paul's Cathedral. A comparable large-scale view in bodycolour of the Thames at Richmond was sold in these Rooms, 16 June 2005, lot 311, and another of the Thames with Waterloo Bridge was offered 20 October 1998, lot 160.