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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner The Grote Kerk, Dordrecht 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The Grote Kerk, Dordrecht’ 1817
Folio 88 Verso:
The Grote Kerk, Dordrecht 1817
D13165
Turner Bequest CLXII 89a
Pencil on ‘blue’ laid writing paper, 93 x 156 mm
Partial watermark: Jan Kool arms
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Houten Vorstel’ lower centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner arrived at Dordrecht on 10 September 1817 and stayed for a day and a half, making numerous drawings. With the page turned horizontally, this careful study appears to have been made from the Nieuwe Haven, with bridge and barges, looking towards the Grote Kerk, and figures and carts in the foreground. Turner’s inscription is problematic, however: if he meant the street called the Houttuinen, this view would have been impossible from it.

Quirine van der Meer Mohr
December 2013

Revised by David Blayney Brown
September 2025

How to cite

Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘The Grote Kerk, Dordrecht 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/the-grote-kerk-dordrecht-r1212538, accessed 01 August 2026.