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

Inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation, the page comprises three variant sketches of Dordrecht, looking south from around the point where the Beneden Merwede river forks into its distributaries, the Noord and Oude Maas (Old Meuse). All feature the dome of the riverfront Groothoofdspoort (see under folio 48 verso; D18934) and the cupola of the Bonifatiuskerk (see under folio 57 verso; D18952) to its south-west, and continue to the right, albeit with slight gaps at the gutter, across folio 63 verso opposite (D18964). There, the north side of Dordrecht’s Grote Kerk is seen above the Oude Maas. See under folio 47 recto (D18931) for other views in and around the city in this book and elsewhere, many of which feature these buildings.

Along with progressively more distant river views on the verso, folio 65 recto and possibly its verso (D18966–D18968), these rapid sketches were perhaps made as Turner began the short voyage back to Rotterdam (see under folio 35 recto; D18908), whence he likely came to Dordrecht and where he began a second sequence of views on folio 66 verso (D18970).