J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Four Views of Rotterdam 1817

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Four Views of Rotterdam’ 1817
Folio 74 verso:
Four Views of Rotterdam 1817
D13139
Turner Bequest CLXII 75a
Pencil on ‘blue’ laid writing paper, 156 x 93 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘three Blue jackets’ centre right and ‘Rotterdam’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
For Rotterdam in this sketchbook, see folio 9 recto (D13012). This page has four very quick sketches of the city from the River Meuse, made with the sketchbook inverted relative to its foliation. Three are continued across folio 75 recto opposite (D13140; Turner Bequest CLXII 76).
The lowest shows the Oude Haven, with the tower of the Laurenskerk in the distance and the Ooster Oude Hoofdpoort on the right. Two sketches above this seem to present the same gate. A classical building outlined on the left of the page was probably located on the Boompjes (Boom Quay), a boulevard beside the Meuse lined with similarly impressive classical buildings. Charles Campbell, whose guide to the Low Countries Turner used (and lost) somewhere during his tour in 1817, described it as the grandest and most agreeable street in Rotterdam.1

Quirine van der Meer Mohr
December 2013

Revised by David Blayney Brown
September 2025

1
C. Campbell, The Traveller’s Complete Guide through Belgium and Holland, revised ed., London 1817, p.229.

How to cite

Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘Four Views of Rotterdam 1817’, catalogue entry, December 2013, revised by David Blayney Brown, September 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, June 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/four-views-of-rotterdam-r1212512, accessed 31 July 2026.