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

Although David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan identified the building sketched twice on this page as Duart Castle on the Isle of Mull, the shape of the ruin closely resembles the building drawn on the reverse of this page (folio 6 verso; D26947), which they suggest may be Tioram Castle in Loch Moidart.1 However, some of the other sketches that the authors have identified as Tioram (e.g. folio 9; D26951) bear a resemblance to Ardtornish Castle (folio 6 verso; D26947), which sits on a promontory on the coast of Morvern on the north shore of the Sound of Mull, and it has been doubted by the present author whether Turner would have seen Tioram Castle. As Ardtornish was the next antiquity that Turner passed after Duart Castle when his boat headed up the Sound of Mull, this is a compelling suggestion. However, the hill behind the castle in both sketches is more like the hills near Duart Castle or Tioram. Without an inscription, or until a specific architectural or topographical feature is recognised, it is impossible to identify such slight and similar looking sketches with any certainty.