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

This sketch is likely to be the most northerly view that Turner ever made. Inscribed ‘Durnock’, David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have identified this as a view looking north to the Dornoch Firth, which lies twenty-five miles north of Inverness. There is no sign of the town of Dornoch with its thirteenth-century cathedral, although Dornoch Point at the mouth of the Firth may be shown just above the inscription.

Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan have attempted to find sketches of Dornoch including possible sketches of parts of the cathedral (Tate D34833–D34834 verso; Turner Bequest CCCLXIV d 350v–351v), but found no convincing possibilities. The current sketch therefore remains the most northerly view to be identified with any certainty.

Turner made his journey north towards the Dornoch Firth from his temporary base at Novar House, where he stayed for a few days with Hugh Munro (see Tate D34797; Turner Bequest CCCLXIV d 330). A sketch of a road and bridge on another loose sheet may have been made during this excursion (Tate D34847; Turner Bequest CCCLXIV d 358).