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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Views of Rotterdam, Including the Wester Nieuwe Hoofdpoort 1833

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 32 Verso:
Views of Rotterdam, Including the Wester Nieuwe Hoofdpoort 1833
D32604
Turner Bequest CCCXXII 33a
Pencil on white laid paper, 170 x 105 mm
Partial watermark: base of unicorn motif
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Of the three rapidly executed views in Rotterdam down this page, two are inverted relative to the sketchbook’s foliation. The first is a sketch of shipping in a harbour, possibly the Nieuwe Haven, although indications of significant buildings are lacking. The middle view includes the Wester Nieuwe Hoofdpoort (or Wittepoort) gateway with its cupola, shown more clearly on the recto (D32603; see also folio 43 verso and 44 recto; D32625–D32626; CCCXXII 44a, 45); this view continues across folio 33 recto opposite (D32605; Turner Bequest CCCXXII 34). The bottom drawing, the other way up, is a rapid sketch of an elevating ‘ophaalbrug’-type bridge, with what appear to be masts of moored boats to each side and loose indications of buildings beyond.
Although the layout of central Rotterdam’s streets and harbours has been broadly preserved, very few buildings (notably St Lawrence’s Church) survived destruction in May 1940, and identification is based largely on earlier visual documentation; see under folio 14 recto (D32568; CCCXXII 15) for other views in and around the city in this book and elsewhere.

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr
November 2019

How to cite

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘Views of Rotterdam, Including the Wester Nieuwe Hoofdpoort 1833 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, November 2019, 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-views-of-rotterdam-including-the-wester-nieuwe-hoofdpoort-r1204069, accessed 04 April 2026.