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

With the page turned horizontally, the main drawing shows the Sint Servaasbrug over the River Maas (Meuse), looking north downstream from the Wyck side, with Maastricht opposite. At the time of Turner’s drawing, this end was formed by a wooden section, later replaced by a broader stone span than the rest, as seen in old photographs; today, the bridge comprises seven stone arches, with those nearest Wyck replaced again by a single drawbridge roadway over a separate channel. Near the centre, downriver to the north but deceptively appearing as if part of the bridge, the twin towers and single spire belong to the lost monastic Sint Antoniuskerk, north of the city centre, as seen in the foreground on folio 181 verso (D19199).

Otherwise, the view remains recognisable from Wyck’s Stenenwal quay, looking north-west to the centre of Maastricht. The cupola of the Stadhuis is shown at the far left, beyond the riverside Augustinian church, now an events centre. The most distinctive feature of the continuation to the left above the main scene is the steeply pitched roof of the Dinghuis, now the city’s visitor centre. These buildings are shown in the opposite direction in the contemporary Holland, Meuse and Cologne sketchbook (Tate D19530; Tuner Bequest CCXV 77).

There is a view of the bridge from about the same distance downstream, looking back in this direction, on the verso (D19209). It is shown upstream from the west bank on folio 213 recto (D19262), a page of Maastricht sketches at a remove from the main sequence. For the other aspects of the city recorded on adjacent pages and in the other book, see under folio 179 verso (D19195).