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

The three sketches on this page were made at Greenock on the south bank of the River Clyde about twenty miles west of Glasgow. The first sketch at the bottom of the page, inscribed ‘Greenock’, was made as the Maid of Islay No.1 (the boat Turner was travelling on) approached Greenock Quay. The view is from the north-east and looks west along the Clyde with Greenock at the left. The town’s Custom House can be made out behind the masts of boats moored in the quay. There is a similar sketch on folio 15 (D26462).

Above this sketch across the centre of the page is a sketch that Turner must have made after landing at Greenock, as there are the roofs of two buildings at the left of the sketch, which sit in front of a view north across the Clyde to the hills on the opposite shore.

The third sketch, at the top of the page, looks east along the Clyde towards ‘P[ort] Glasgow’ on the southern shore at the right, with the steeple of the Town Buildings rising above the town, and Dumbarton on the north shore with Dumbarton Rock at the left (there are further sketches of the rock on folio 71 verso; D26577).

Turner stopped at Greenock on his journey to Islay from Glasgow, see folio 15 for details.