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

David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have suggested that these sketches may show either the hamlet of Bunarkaig or Clunes at the south-west of Loch Lochy. Both have small bridges like the single-arched bridge in the sketches, but of the two suggestions, Clunes is particularly compelling. It has a small arched stone bridge, behind which to the west is a hillock that is covered in birch trees; this is the burial ground Cladh Tom Mhòir.1 To the north are the slopes of Leac Chorrach, which could be the hill at the right. The sketch at the top of the page shows the same place from a different view. For further views of Loch Lochy see folio 6 and 6 verso (D26972, D26973).

There is a tear at the top left. This evidently occurred before John Ruskin examined the sketchbook in 1856 as he wrote the page number ‘7’ to the left of it.