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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1819-29 Italy and after > Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and French ... > Holland Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner The West Towers of Antwerp Cathedral 1825

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘The West Towers of Antwerp Cathedral’ 1825
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 195 Recto:
The West Towers of Antwerp Cathedral 1825
D19226
Turner Bequest CCXIV 195
Pencil on white wove paper, 155 x 95 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘95’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘CCXIV – 195’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This carefully executed study shows asymmetrical Gothic west towers of the Antwerp Cathedral, as correctly identified by Finberg.1 They are seen obliquely to the south-east from the Grote Markt, from about the same position used for the view across the square on folio 194 verso (D19225) opposite, where the towers are only lightly outlined over rooftops on about half this scale.
Turner presumably felt that the towers deserved more detailed study, particularly the nearer of the two, the only one to be completed to its spire’s soaring full height of 123 metres (404 feet). The cathedral still dominates the city, especially when viewed to the east from the River Scheldt; see folio 191 recto (D19218). For other views of Antwerp here and elsewhere, see under folio 188 recto (D19212).

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr
September 2020

1
See Finberg 1909, II, p.658.

How to cite

Matthew Imms and Quirine van der Meer Mohr, ‘The West Towers of Antwerp Cathedral 1825 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, September 2020, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, March 2023, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-west-towers-of-antwerp-cathedral-r1202578, accessed 26 April 2025.