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Joseph Mallord William Turner (artist) British, 1775 - 1851 Rotterdam Ferry-Boat, 1833 oil on canvas overall: 92.3 x 122.5 cm (36 5/16 x 48 1/4 in.) framed: 115.6 x 146 x 7.6 cm (45 1/2 x 57 1/2 x 3 in.) Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection 1970.17.135 On View |
Object 5 of 11
This seascape was exhibited in 1833 at the Royal Academy, where Turner taught as the professor of perspective. Conquering the problem of creating a believable sense of space across a featureless expanse of water, Turner anchored the carefully aligned design upon a small passenger ferry. From this foreground focus, a row of larger ships moves backward over the choppy waves on a diagonal line, generating a remarkable illusion of depth. The warship’s Dutch flags and the skyline of Rotterdam pay tribute to Turner’s predecessors, the marine painters of seventeenth-century Holland. In particular, the low horizon and cloud-swept vista derive from harbor scenes by Jan van Goyen and Aelbert Cuyp.
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