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

Turner’s two sketches of Dumbarton Rock on folios 19 verso (D26656) and the present page show the south-west side of the fortified volcanic plug, as seen from the mouth of the River Leven.1 With the sketchbook turned to the right on the present page is a sketch of the ramparts halfway up the rock on the western side, with the roof of the Governor’s House at the lower right. The sketch on folio 19 verso shows the southern summit of the rock directly above these ramparts. There are further sketches of Dumbarton Rock on the inside front cover and folios 1, 1 verso and 2 verso of this sketchbook (D41131, D26619, D26620, D26622). There is also a very similar view to the present sketch in the Stirling and the West sketchbook (Tate D26598; Turner Bequest CCLXX 82a). These were made around the third week of August 1831, when Turner embarked on a steamboat and walking tour of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs which began at Bowling near Dumbarton.2

With the sketchbook inverted is a view of hills behind a body of water. This is likely to be the Clyde, with the lower western edge of Dumbarton Rock at the left, and the hills south of Langbank (including Barscube and Knockmountain) at the far side of the river. The view was thus taken from a similar spot to the sketch of Dumbarton Rock.

A final sketch was made at the head of this page, but it is too slight to make identification possible.