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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Rotterdam, with the Stadhuis; the River Maas, with a Distant Tower; Study of a ?Barge 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Rotterdam, with the Stadhuis; the River Maas, with a Distant Tower; Study of a ?Barge’ 1817
Folio 9 Recto:
Rotterdam, with the Stadhuis; the River Maas, with a Distant Tower; Study of a ?Barge 1817
D13012
Turner Bequest CLXII 9
Pencil on ‘blue’ laid writing paper, 93 x 156 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘B[...]’, ‘B | W | W’ and ‘Rotterdam’ towards bottom right, and ‘RH’ top left
Stamped in black ‘CLXII – 9’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the bottom right is a view of Rotterdam with the towers of the Stadhuis (City Hall) and probably the Laurenskerk. In the centre of the page is a shoreline, presumably on the River Maas, also with a tower. At top left is another small, indefinable sketch, perhaps of a barge.
Turner was in Rotterdam for four days in 1817, on 4, 5, 10 and 12 September according to his Itinerary Rhine Tour pocket-book (Tate D12696; Turner Bequest CLIX 100). Views of Rotterdam in the present sketchbook are on folios 13 recto‒18 verso (D13019‒D13030) and 73 recto–75 recto (D13136‒D13140; CLXII 74–76)

Quirine van der Meer Mohr
December 2013

Revised by David Blayney Brown
April 2018

How to cite

Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘Rotterdam, with the Stadhuis; the River Maas, with a Distant Tower; Study of a ?Barge 1817’, catalogue entry, December 2013, revised by David Blayney Brown, April 2018, 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-with-the-stadhuis-the-river-maas-with-a-distant-tower-study-of-a-barge-r1212387, accessed 31 July 2026.