Cliveden on Thames

Turner made drawings at Cliveden during a Thames tour probably in 1805 and may have exhibited this modestly-scaled view of Cliveden Reach at his gallery in 1807. On the slopes above the river stood the ruins of Cliveden House, a former home of the Dukes of Buckingham and associated with the poet James Thomson whose work Turner admired. Thomson was the author of a long poem 'The Seasons' as well as the ode 'Rule Britannia' which was first performed at Cliveden as part of his Masque of Alfred.