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 Utrecht 1817

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant View of Utrecht’ 1817
Folio 22 Verso:
Distant View of Utrecht 1817
D13038
Turner Bequest CLXII 22a
Pencil on ‘blue’ laid writing paper, 93 x 156 mm
Inscribed by Turner ‘[?Schallfk...]’ bottom left, ascending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, this quick sketch shows a road leading towards Utrecht from the south-east, perhaps in the village of Schalkwijk if that is meant by Turner’s inscription. The skyline in the distance includes the Paardevelt windmill, the Jacobite church and St Martin’s Cathedral. Turner visited Utrecht on 8 September 1817, as he noted in the Itinerary Rhine Tour pocketbook (Tate D12696; Turner Bequest CLIX 100).
See the Introduction to this sketchbook for its numerous other views of Utrecht, on folios 23 recto opposite, 63 recto, 63 verso, 64 recto and verso, 66 verso, 67 verso, 68 recto and verso, 69 recto and 87 verso=88 recto (D13039, D13119–D13120, D13112, D13111, D13124, D13126–D13129, D13163–D13164; CLXII 23, 65, 65a, 61a, 61, 67a, 68a, 69, 69a, 70, 88a, 89).

Quirine van der Meer Mohr
December 2013

David Blayney Brown
September 2025

How to cite

Quirine van der Meer Mohr and David Blayney Brown, ‘Distant View of Utrecht 1817’, catalogue entry, 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/distant-view-of-utrecht-r1212413, accessed 31 July 2026.