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 on the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) River off Rotterdam 1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Studies of Boats under Sail on the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) River off Rotterdam’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 45 Verso:
Studies of Boats under Sail on the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) River off Rotterdam 1825
D18928
Turner Bequest CCXIV 45a
Pencil on white wove paper, 155 x 95 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Rotterdam the NW’ above centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The page comprises five bands of studies with shipping under sail on the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) river off Rotterdam, as recognised by Finberg, who transcribed Turner’s note of the city’s name appended by a compass bearing,1 showing that the artist was aware of looking north-west, at right-angles to the riverbank. He had registered other bearings as he approached Rotterdam from the estuary, on folios 29 verso–30 recto (D18897–D18898); see this sketchbook’s Introduction for discussion of its many shipping studies.
The Dutch Turner scholar Fred Bachrach defined several of the landmarks: the second drawing shows the tree-lined Boompjes in the background, while in the third, fourth and fifth the square tower of St Lawrence’s Church (the Sint-Laurenskerk) can be seen in the distance, with what may be the cupola of the Beurs (stock exchange) to its right. 2
The subjects are effectively continuous with those on folio 46 recto opposite (D18929), particularly in the lowest sketch, where the waterfront appears continuous, albeit with a slight gap. Very few buildings (notably St Lawrence’s) survived destruction in May 1940, and the Boompjes is now lined with tower blocks; see under folio 35 recto (D18908) for other views in and around the city in this book and elsewhere.

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr
September 2020

1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.652.
2
See Bachrach 1974, p.52, and map, p.[46], showing viewpoint and sightline.

How to cite

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘Studies of Boats under Sail on the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) River off Rotterdam 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-on-the-nieuwe-maas-new-meuse-r1202280, accessed 04 April 2026.