Dort, or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed
Date:
1818
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
62 × 92 inches (157.5 × 233.7 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed, lower right: "Dort"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.77
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
cityscape | market (event) | seascape | rowboats | marine art | vegetables | crowd | flotsam | sunlight | reflection | men | women | fruit | rubbish | jars | ships | flags | church | city | sea | river | cityscape
Associated Places:
Our Dear Lady Church | Netherlands | Rotterdam | Dordrecht, Gemeente | Dordrecht | Noord
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
J.M.W. Turner: Romance & Reality (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-03-29 - 2025-07-27)In a New Light: Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art (Yale University Art Gallery, 2023-03-24 - 2023-12-03)The Critique of Reason : Romantic Art, 1760–1860 (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26)An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27)Great British Paintings from American Collections: Holbein to Hockney (Yale Center for British Art, 2001-09-27 - 2001-12-30)J. M. W. Turner - A Selection of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1968-10-31 - 1969-04-21)
Publications:
[Yale University Press Advertisement ] Dort or Dordrecht : The Dort Packed-boat from Rotterdam Becalmed, , Art Journal (CAA), vol. 37, Autumn 1977, p. 81, N81 A887 + OVERSIZE (HAAS) Available online in JSTORSir Geoffrey Agnew, Yale's 1700 Mellon Pictures, The Times (London), , April 28, 1977, p. 9, Times Digital ArchiveBrian Allen, The Sport of Collecting : Paul Mellon and British Art, Apollo, vol.165, April 2007, pp. 38, 39, fig. 9, N1 A54 + (YCBA)Nina Amstutz, Landscape and the Architecture of Light: John Constable's Clouds at the Yale Center for British Art, Oxford University Press, London, 2017, p. 9, fig. 7, V 2736 (YCBA)Alfred Gustave Herbert Bachrach, The Field of Waterloo and Beyond, Turner Studies, vol. 1, 1981, pp. 4-13, NJ18 T85 T87 + (YCBA)Alfred Gustave Herbert Bachrach, Turner and Rotterdam, 1817, 1825, 1841, De Lange/van Leer, [S.l., 1970, pp. 18-20, NJ18 T85 B33 (YCBA)Alfred Gustave Herbert Bachrach, Turner's Holland : Tate Gallery, , Tate Publishing, London, 1994, pp. 17-18, 42-43, no. 9, NJ18 T85 B34 1994 (YCBA)Alfred Gustave Herbert Bachrach, Turner's Holland, Dutch Quarterly Review of Anglo-American Letters, vol. 6, 1976, p. 112, PE9 D87 (SML)Anthony Bailey, Standing in the sun : a life of J. M. W. Turner, , Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1997, pp. 216-217, NJ18 T85 B35 1997 (YCBA)John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 30,33, 284-285, no. 90, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Hugh Belsey, Exhibition reviews : Paul Mellon's legacy : New Haven and London, Burlington Magazine, vol. 149, October 2007, p. 714, fig. 52, N1 .B87 Oversize (YCBA)David Bindman, The History of British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2008, pp. 208-209 (vol. 2), fig. 134, N6761 +H57 2008 Oversize (YCBA)Mila Boutan, Turner et Moi, RMN Jeunesse, Paris, 2010, p. 23, No copy available at Yale Only locations given in WorldCat (4/21/12) are in France. N.B. This is a book written for a "Juvenile" audienceBritish Art at Yale, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, pp. 290-291, fig. 8, N1 .A54 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)David Blayney Brown, Augustus Wall Callcott, Tate Gallery, 1981, pp.5, 36, 78, 79, fig. 8, NJ18 C1278 B76 (YCBA)David Blayney Brown, The art of J.M.W. Turner, Headline Book Publishing, London, 1990, pp. 62, 65,124,147,159, NJ18 T85 B79 1990 + (YCBA)David Blayney Brown, Turner's Modern World, Tate Publishing, London, 2020, p. 59, no. 33, NJ18.T85 A12 2020a Oversize (YCBA)J.T. Butler, J.M.W. Turner - A Selection of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : The American Way with Art, , Connoisseur, vol. 171, June 1969, pp. 145-147, N1 C75 + (YCBA)Martin Butlin, The paintings of J.M.W. Turner, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1984, pp. 47, 53, 69, 71, 101-104, 138, 141 (vol. 1), no. 137, pl. 140, NJ18 T85 B885 1984 OVERSIZE (YCBA)By Turner, The Times (London), February 6, 1953, p.12, Times Digital ArchiveChristie's Advertisement : On Friday July 2, 1937 : Important Pictures by Old Masters, , The Times (London), June 29, 1937, p. 31, Times Digital ArchiveChristie's Advertisement : On Friday July 2, 1937 : Important Pictures by Old Masters, , The Times (London), June 22, 1937, p. 29, Times Digital ArchiveChristie's Advertisement : On Friday July 2, 1937 : Important Pictures by Old Masters, , The Times (London), July 2, 1937, p. 31, Times Digital ArchiveChristie's sale catalogue : Catalogue of Important Pictures by Old Masters : 2 July 1937, Christie's, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, July 2, 1937, p. 24, Lot 61, Fiche B51 (YCBA)Peter Conrad, Light Work, RA : the magazine for the Friends of the Royal Academy, no. 96, Autumn 2007, p. 76, V 1906 (YCBA)David Cordingly, Ships and seascapes : an introduction to maritime prints, drawings and watercolours, , P. Wilson, London, 1997, pp. 99-100, N8230 C67 1997 (YCBA)David Cordingly, Turner and the Sea, Turner Society News, no. 121, Spring 2014, p. 25, NJ18 T85 T86 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Richard Cork, A roaring gale of inspiration, The Times (London), August 9, 1994, p. 29, Times Digital ArchiveMalcolm Cormack, A Selective Promenade, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, p. 290-291, fig. 8, N1 A54 + (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 226-227, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, The Dort : Some Further Observations, , Turner Studies, vol. 2, 1983, pp. 37-39, NJ18 T85 T87 + (YCBA)Gabriele Crepaldi, Turner, Prestel, Munich ; London, 2011, pp. 78-81, NJ18.T85 C75 2011 (YCBA)Dort or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-boat from Rotterdam Becalmed, Magazine Antiques, vol. 95, February 1969, p. 210, NK1125 A3 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Dort or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-boat from Rotterdam Becalmed, Magazine Antiques, vol. 111, May 1977, p. 864, NK1125 A3 (HAAS)Dort or Dordrecht: The Dort Packet-boat from Rotterdam Becalmed, ART News, vol. 76, November 1977, p. 57, N1 A6 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Martina Droth, Britain in the world : Highlights from the Yale Center for British Art in honor of Amy Meyers, Yale University Press, New Haven, London, 2019, pp. 104, 107 (detail), N6761 .Y33 2019 (LC) (YCBA)Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts : Exhibition Catalogue. 1818. 50th, Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, no. 50, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1818, p. 12, no. 166, N5054 A53 v. 3 (YCBA)Patricia Failing, Best-loved art from American museums, C. N. Potter, New York, 1983, p. 33, N6505 F34 1983 (YCBA)Joseph Farington, The Diary of Joseph Farington, , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1978, vol. 15. pp. 5190-5191, NJ18 F2164 A3 1978 (YCBA)John Gage, J.M.W. Turner : "A wonderful range of mind", Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1987, p. 112, fig. 160, NJ18 T85 G36 (LC) (YCBA)Susan Grace Galassi, Turner's Modern and Ancient Ports : Passages Through Time, New York : The Frick Collection , New Haven : Yale University Press, 2017, p. 10, no. 9, NJ18 T85 +A12 2017Michael Glover, Scenes from Afar, The Times (London), Saturday, September 22, 2007, pp. 26-27, Times Digital ArciveCatherine M. Gordon, British paintings Hogarth to Turner, Frederick Warne, London, 1981, p.67, ND466 .G67 (YCBA)Charlotte Gould, British art and the environment : changes, challenges, and responses since the Industrial Revolution, New York, 2022, p. 174, fig. 10.3, N8217.E28 B75 2022 (YCBA)Mark Hallett, The Great Spectacle: 250 years of the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, [London], 2018, p. 69, fig. 44, N5054 .H35 2018 (LC) Oversize (YCBA)James Hamilton, Turner, a life, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1997, NJ18 T85 H35 1997B (YCBA)Andrew Hemingway, Landscape Between Ideology and the Aesthetic : Marxist Essays on British Art and Art Theory, 1750-1850, Brill, Leiden, 2017, p. 435, fig. 106, HX521 H46 2017 (YCBA)Historic Trends in English Painting, The Times (London), Friday, December 2, 1966, p. 20, Times Digital ArchiveJ.M.W. Turner : a selection of paintings from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1968, pp. 13, 25, no. 10, fig. 10, NJ18 T85 U5 (YCBA)J.M.W. Turner : The 'Skies' Sketchbook, Tate Publishing, London, 2016, pp. 12-13, pl. 4, NJ18 T85 +A12 2016a (YCBA)Evelyn Joll, The Oxford companion to J.M.W. Turner, Oxford University Press, Oxford New York, 2001, pl. 11, NJ18 O84 2001 (YCBA)Wouter Th. Kloek, Aelbert Cuyp : land, water, light, , Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2002, p. 46, NJ18 C985 K64 2002 (HAAS)Literature and Arts : Books and Exhibitions of the Year, , The Times (London), Saturday, January 1, 1938, p. X, Times Digital ArchiveMichael Lloyd, Turner, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1996, p. 19, NJ18 T85 L57 1996 + (YCBA)Julia Marciari-Alexander, This other Eden : Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1998, pp. 14-17, fig. 14, ND1314.3 Y36 1998 (YCBA)Mr Paul Mellon, Reflections in a silver spoon : a memoir, , W. Morrow, New York, 1992, pp. 382-383, N5220 M552 1992 (YCBA)Robert Melville, Gallery : Lost domains, Architectural Review, vol. 149, April 1971, p. 251-252, fig. 1, NK1125 A3 OVERSIZE (HAAS)Franny Moyle, Turner : The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner, Penguin Books, New York, 2016, pp. 298-299, 373, fig. 30, NJ18 T85 M79 2016 (YCBA)Frederic Ogee, Turner : les paysages absolus, , Hazan, Paris, 2010, pp. 12-13, 36-37, NJ18 T85 O34 2010 (YCBA)Sander Paarlberg, In the light of Cuyp : Aelbert Cuyp & Gainsborough, Constable, Turner, Zwolle, Dordrecht, NL, 2021, pp. 176-177, ND653.C8 A4 2021+ (YCBA)John Parker, A formal and historical sociology of western picture-making with special reference to J.M.W. Turner : power, space, and light, , Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, NY, 1998, pl. 16, NJ18 T85 P27 1998 (YCBA)Paul Mellon's legacy : a passion for British art : April 18-July 29, 2007, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Conn., 2007, pp. 7, 14, V 1735 (YCBA)Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Paul Mitchell, Picture Framing : Notes on Turner's Picture Frames, , Museum Management and Conservatorship, vol. 17, 1998, p. 326, N8550 .A7 (YCBA)Realism and romance in English painting : Illustrated catalogue price two shillings and sixpence : November 14-December 10, 1966, Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thos. Agnew & Sons, London, 1966, lot 6, no. 6, DealerCat Thos. Agnew (YCBA)Inge Reist, British models of art collecting and the American response : reflections across the pond, Ashgate Publishing, Burlington, 2014, p. 34, N5202.G7 B75 2014 (YCBA)Graham Reynolds, Turner, Thames & Hudson, London, 2020, fig. 74, NJ18.T85 R49 2020 (YCBA)Christine Riding, Turner & the sea, Thames & Hudson, London, 2013, pp. 11, 12, 22, 131, 136, 169, fig. 1, NJ18.T85 R52 2013 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Christine Riding, Turner on Tour, National Gallery Global, London, London, 2022, pp. 9, 10, 15, fig. 1, NJ18 T85 R53 2022 (YCBA)Catherine Roach, Frame works : paintings-within-paintings in nineteenth-century Britain [PhD Dissertation, Columbia University], , University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, 2009, pp. 105-107, 272, fig. 2.13, ND1460.P35 R63 2009 (YCBA)Catherine Roach, Pictures-within-pictures in nineteenth-century Britain, Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group), Abingdon, New York, 2016, p. 90, ND1460.P35 R63 2016 (YCBA)Simon Schama, The Yale Centre for British Art, TLS, the Times Literary Supplement, , May 20, 1977, p. 620, TLS Historical ArchiveEric Shanes, The life and masterworks of J.M.W. Turner, Parkstone Press, New York, 2008, pp. 138-139, NJ18 T85 S441 2008 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)Shock of recognition : the landscape of English romanticism and the Dutch seventeenth-century school [catalogue of an exhibition held at] the Mauritshuis, the Hague, 24 November 1970 to 10 January 1971 [and] the Tate Gallery, London, 22 January to 28 February 1971., , Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1971, no. 44, ND1314.4 S3613 (YCBA)Sam Smiles, 'Splashers,' Scrawlers' and 'Plasterers' : British landscape painting and the language of criticism, 1800-40, Turner Studies, Vol. 10, London, Summer 1990, pp. 5-11, NJ18 T85 T87+ (YCBA)David H. Solkin, Turner and the masters, Tate Publishing, London, 2009, pp. 25,38, 80, 164-167, 187, pl. 62, NJ18 T85 T8352 2009+ (YCBA)James Stourton, The British as art collectors : from the Tudors to the present, , Scala Publishers, London, 2012, p. 178, N5245 .S595 2012 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)The Dort Packet-boat from Rotterdam Becalmed : Water-colour Acquired by Usher Gallery, Lincoln, , The Times (London), December 22, 1966, p. 15, Times Digital ArchiveThe Fine Arts, Edinburgh Annual Register, vol. 11, January 1818, p. 173, British PeriodicalsThe Private Collections of England, Athenaeum, October 1879, pp. 439-440, British PeriodicalsThe Sale Room : Lord Lonsdale's Old Masters : The Farnley Hall Turners, , The Times (London), Wednesday, June 9, 1937, p. 13, Times Digital ArchiveThe Yale Center for British Art : An Anniversary Celebration of Paul Mellon's Great Legacy, , Apollo, April 2007, p. 38, fig. 9, N5220 M552 A7 OVERSIZE (YCBA) Appeared as April 2007 issue of Apollo; all of the articles may also be found in bound Apollo Volume [N1 A54 165:2 +]Joyce H. Townsend, How Turner Painted: Materials & Techniques, Thames & Hudson, London, 2019, p. 141, NJ18.T85 T642 2019 (LC) (YCBA)Unfamiliar Turner Paintings : Record Attendance at the Exhibition, , The Times (London), Wednesday, March 11, 1953, p. 11, Times Digital ArchiveUnfamiliar Turner Paintings : Whitechapel Gallery Collection, , The Times (London), Thursday, February 5, 1953, p. 3, Times Digital ArchiveUpcoming Exhibits, Burlington Magazine, vol. 108, December 1966, p. 643, N1 B87 + (YCBA)Malcolm Warner, Great British paintings from American collections : Holbein to Hockney, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, pp. 171-173, no. 50, ND464 W27 2001 (YCBA)Ian Warrell, J.M.W. Turner, Tate Publishing, London, 2007, pp. 17, 18, 166, fig. 33, NJ18 T85 A12 2007 + (YCBA)Giles Waterfield, Mr. Mellon, RA : the magazine for the Friends of the Royal Academy, No. 96, Autumn 2007, pp. 71, 72, V 1905 (YCBA)Ellis Waterhouse, British and Dutch Landscapes at the Tate, Burlington Magazine, vol. 113, February 1971, p. 111, no. 47, N1 B87 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)John Wilmerding, Essays in honor of Paul Mellon, collector and benefactor : Essays, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC & Hanover, NH, 1986, pp. 1, 5, fig. 3, N7442.2 M455 1986 (YCBA)Andrew Wilton, The life and work of J.M.W. Turner, Academy Editions, London, 1979, pp. 157, 267, no. P137, pl. 170, NJ18 T85 +W577 OVERSIZE (YCBA)K. Woodbridge, Sacred landscape: Painters and the Lake-garden of Stourhead, Apollo, vol. 88, London, England, September 1968, pp. 210-214, N1 A54 + (YCBA)Yale Center for British Art, Selected paintings, drawings & books, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1977, cover, p. 37, N590.2 A82 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Dort, or Dordrecht is a brilliant demonstration of Turner’s quest to outdo the most celebrated of his Dutch predecessors. Its composition reworks Aelbert Cuyp’s famed The Maas at Dordrecht (ca. 1650). More than simply recreating its diffuse, golden light, however, Turner introduced a richness of coloring that endows his painting with even greater luminosity. The overall impression is one of tranquility and calm. Nevertheless, it soon becomes clear that the painting is filled with incident, seemingly based on scenes Turner witnessed when he passed through the port during his second continental tour of 1817. The ferryboat at the center of the image is teeming with life. Its deck overflows with passengers who strain to look overboard as supplies are unloaded from the passing vessels. This combination of intense color and rich detail dazzled critics and led Turner’s fellow artist John Constable to call it “the most complete work of genius I ever saw.” Gallery label for J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality (Yale Center for British Art, March - 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025)
Provenance:
Created by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851), the artist; purchased by Walter Ramsden Hawkesworth Fawkes (1769–1825), Farnley Hall, 1818 [1]; by descent to his son, Francis Hawksworth Fawkes (1797–1871); by descent to his brother, Reverend Ayscough Fawkes (1805–1871); by descent to his son, Ayscough Fawkes (1831–1899); by descent to his brother, Reverend Frederick Fawkes (1833–1900); by descent to his son, Frederick Hawkesworth Fawkes (1870–1936); by descent to his brother, Reverend Walker Hawkesworth Fawkes (1872–1943); by descent to his nephew, Major Le Gendre George William Horton-Fawkes (1892–1982); [sale, Christie’s, London, July 2, 1937, lot 61 (unsold)]; purchased by Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., for Paul Mellon (1907–1999), 1966 [a]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1977. Notes: --- [1] Walter Ramsden Hawkesworth Fawkes, a Yorkshire politician and landowner, inherited Farnley Hall in 1792, at which point he also took the surname Fawkes. He was a close friend and prominent patron of the artist. Citation: --- [a] Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 226-227 ---