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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Stirling and the West Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Entrance to Loch Coruisk at Loch na Cuilce, Skye 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Entrance to Loch Coruisk at Loch na Cuilce, Skye’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 68 Recto:
Entrance to Loch Coruisk at Loch na Cuilce, Skye 1831
D26570
Turner Bequest CCLXX 68
Pencil on white wove paper, 125 x 201 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ?‘yelow’ top
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘68’ bottom left descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXX – 68’ bottom left descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This sketch of a bay surrounded by rocky hills resembles the entrance to Loch Coruisk from Loch na Cuilce on Skye. The little Scavaig River connects to the lochs and can be seen between the rocks at the centre right of the sketch. Turner set off for Loch Coruisk from Elgol, arriving by boat from Loch Scavaig. There are a number of sketches of the head of the loch and of Camasunary Bay nearby; see folio 70 (D26574) for further details.
The inscription at the top of the page may say ‘yellow’, referring to the hue of the sky. David Wallace-Hadrill read the word as ‘Gareloch’,1 though this sketch cannot be connected to Gare Loch.

Thomas Ardill
June 2010

1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner Round the Clyde and in Islay – 1831’, 1991, Tate catalogue files.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Entrance to Loch Coruisk at Loch na Cuilce, Skye 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-entrance-to-loch-coruisk-at-loch-na-cuilce-skye-r1135004, accessed 04 March 2025.