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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant View of Brussels from the North 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant View of Brussels from the North’ 1817
Folio 13 Verso:
Distant View of Brussels from the North 1817
D12725
Turner Bequest CLX 13a
Pencil on white wove paper, 94 x 150 mm
Partial ‘J Whatman | 1816’ watermark
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Rd’ bottom left and ‘Brux’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Here, with the page turned horizontally, Turner has combined material from his preceding double–page spreads of Brussels from its northern outskirts (running from folio 10 verso to the recto of the present leaf; D12719–D12724) in a schematic composition study, adding tall, graceful trees to the right foreground.
In the distant city, from left to right, are the cathedral of St Michael and St Gudule, the church of St Jacques–sur–Coudenberg, the Town Hall and the Eglise de la Chapelle (Kapellekerk). Essentially this composition, via Turner’s subsequent watercolour,1 was engraved by William Miller in 1834 (Tate impression: T04729); see notes to D12719. For Turner’s visit to Brussels in 1817, and the city in this sketchbook, see notes to folio 9 verso (D12717).

Quirine van der Meer Mohr
December 2013

David Blayney Brown
June 2025

1
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, Fribourg 1979, p.430 no.1095 (as untraced).

How to cite

Quirine van der Meer Mohr and David Blayney Brown, ‘Distant View of Brussels from the North 1817’, catalogue entry, June 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/distant-view-of-brussels-from-the-north-r1212093, accessed 31 July 2026.