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

Turner used this sketchbook page on two occasions which is why the three sketches are overlapping and confused. The first to be made was the little diagrammatic sketch of Dunderave Castle on the shore of Loch Fyne, drawn at the centre of the page with the sketchbook turned to the left. The castle is recognisable by its conical turrets and appears to have been made from the west. Above it are the shaded profile of the same distant hills that can be seen in the distance in Turner’s watercolour Loch Fyne 1815 (British Museum),1 and there is another slight sketch of the profile of distant hills to the right. Turner made two more careful, though still fairly rapid, studies on folios 7 verso and 8 verso (D26632, D26634); see folio 7 verso for more information.

The sketchbook was kept to hand and used next when Turner, having passed through Glen Kinglas, reached the military road called ‘Rest and be thankful’ at the western end of Glen Croe. The sketch, at the head of the page and made parallel to it, is inscribed ‘Rest’ and shows the views down Glen Croe from the higher vantage point. At the left of the sketch is the shoulder of Ben Arthur (The Cobbler) with Ben Donich at the right. Turner made a very similar sketch in the Stirling and the West sketchbook (Tate D26551; Turner Bequest CCLXX 58 a).

The final sketch was made from Glen Croe and looks north and upwards to the craggy peaks of Ben Arthur. There is a similar profile sketch of the summit on folio 7 verso, and two further sketches, this time made from Arrochar at the east of Loch Long, in the Stirling and the West sketchbook (D26557–D26558; Turner Bequest CCLXX 61a–62). Turner also climbed the mountain and made views from the summit (see Tate D26500; Turner Bequest CCLXX 33 for references).