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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and French ... > Holland Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Studies of Boats under Sail and Moored on the Oude Maas (Old Meuse) River off Dordrecht 1825

Image 1 of 2
  • Enhanced image
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Studies of Boats under Sail and Moored on the Oude Maas (Old Meuse) River off Dordrecht’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 54 Recto:
Studies of Boats under Sail and Moored on the Oude Maas (Old Meuse) River off Dordrecht 1825
D18945
Turner Bequest CCXIV 54
Pencil on white wove paper, 155 x 95 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘54’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXIV 54’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The page comprises three bands of studies, with moored boats in the upper two. The second sketch features suggestions of shade and reflection, which are relatively rare additions to such fleeting outlines. Below, the boats under sail seem to be continuous with those on folio 53 recto opposite (D18944), where there appear to be hints of Dordrecht’s Grote Kerk overlooking the Oude Maas (Old Meuse) River in the background, along with other smaller-scale studies.
See this sketchbook’s Introduction for discussion of its many such subjects, and under folio 47 recto (D18931) for other views in and around the city in this book and elsewhere.

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr
September 2020

How to cite

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘Studies of Boats under Sail and Moored on the Oude Maas (Old Meuse) River off Dordrecht 1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2020, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-studies-of-boats-under-sail-and-moored-on-the-oude-maas-old-r1202297, accessed 24 October 2025.