Rotterdam from the North: The Oppert, Hofpoort, Galerij, Stadsvest and Delftse Poort 1817
D13019
Turner Bequest CLXII 13
Pencil on ‘blue’ laid writing paper, 93 x 156 mm
Stamped in black ‘CLXII – 13’ bottom left, descending vertically
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
References
1909
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, London 1909, vol.I, p.470, CLXII 13, as ‘Column on quay at Rotterdam’.
1974
A.G.H. Bachrach, Turner and Rotterdam: 1817 – 1825 – 1841, Wassenaar and Oxford [1974], p.30 reproduced, as ‘Rotterdam from the north ...’.
Drawn with the page turned horizontally and identified by A.G.H. Bachrach,
1 the landmarks in this view of Rotterdam from the north are, from left to right: Oppert and a drawbridge across Stokvisverlaat, tall private houses on the Galerij, the Hofpoort marked by a column flanked by lions, Stadsvest and the Delftse Poort. The Hofpoort was one of the main gates to Rotterdam. According to the topographical writer Leitch Ritchie it was ‘in very bad taste’ as a ‘single fluted column placed on an open arch completely reverses all idea of the support this pillar is supposed to give’.
2In the foreground, on the River Rotte, from which Rotterdam takes its name, are a ‘tjalk’ (barge) minus its mast and rigging, and smaller ‘schouwen’ (work boats).
For Rotterdam in this sketchbook see notes to folio 9 recto (
D13012).
Quirine van der Meer Mohr
December 2013
Revised by David Blayney Brown
September 2025
How to cite
Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘Rotterdam from the North: The Oppert, Hofpoort, Galerij, Stadsvest and Delftse Poort 1817’, catalogue entry, December 2013, revised by David Blayney Brown, September 2025, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, June 2026, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/rotterdam-from-the-north-the-oppert-hofpoort-galerij-stadsvest-and-delftse-poort-r1212394, accessed 31 July 2026.
