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

With the page turned horizontally, two isolated sketches show the skyline of Amsterdam to the south-west across the River IJ. The upper view possibly includes the cupola of the Oosterkerk within the city’s eastern shipyards (compare folio 116 recto; D19068). The gibbet-like post in the foreground may have a lantern suspended from it, like (or identical with) the one in the view of the Tolhuis on the north bank on folio 112 verso (D19061).

Below, looking further to the right, the city centre is shown, with the spire of the Oude Kerk near the cupola of the Royal Palace and slim spire of the Nieuwe Kerk, followed by the lost Jan Roodenpoortstoren, the dome of the Ronde Lutherse Kerk (‘round Lutheran church’) and the ‘Westertoren’ steeple of the Westerkerk at the centre of the page. The riverfront has since been extensively developed, with the Westerdok and Oosterdok, the Victorian railway station and tower blocks, making some of Turner’s sightlines difficult to confirm. See under folio 81 recto (D18999) for other views in and around the city in this book and elsewhere. There are similarly fragmentary views on folio 119 recto opposite (D19074), perhaps indicating that Turner was under way in a boat at this point.