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

Turner passed Castle Campbell at Dollar during a tour of Scotland in 1834 undertaken to collect views to illustrate the works of Sir Walter Scott; see Tour of Scotland for Scott’s Prose Work 1834 Tour Introduction. Although Scott had visited the castle in 1821 and 1828, he did not refer to it in any of his novels or prose.1 Where Scott travelled, however, romantic and picturesque tourists followed, and it is possible that the late author’s publisher Robert Cadell may have recommended the spot to Turner. David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have also shown that Turner seems to have taken an interest in places associated with the life of Mary Queen of Scots.2 Mary stayed at Castle Campbell in 1563 for the wedding of the sister of the Earl of Argyll to James Stewart, Lord Doune,3 though Turner made no note of this on any of the sketches. In any case, he took the opportunity while passing through Dollar to explore in some detail the ruins and romantic setting of Castle Campbell.

The two sketches on the present page were made from the approach to the castle at Dollar, and record Turner’s progress to the castle. The first, drawn across the centre of the page with the book turned to the right, was made from West Burnside in Dollar, and shows the bridge over the Dollar Burn with the gabled end of a house, apparently called Greenfield.4 The castle is represented as a square on the hills at the upper left, with the Ochil Hills beyond to the north. A sketch in the Stirling and Edinburgh book shows a similar view (D26341; CCLXIX 44).

The sketch beneath brings us a little closer to the castle, with a view from the entrance to Mill Green at the start of the castle approach road. The castle is depicted at the centre of the sketch, and in the foreground at the left is the water wheel of the woollen mill that stood at the foot of Dollar Glen.5

At the top of the page are two sketches of distant hills, probably the Ochil Hills to the north. It is possible that the second sketch is a continuation of the view from the right of the top sketch.

Turner went on in this sketchbook and the Stirling and Edinburgh sketchbook to record his ascent of the approach road, and to make sketches from all around and inside the castle. Loch Ard sketchbooks: folios 7, 8 verso, 9, 9 verso, 13 verso, 14, 15 and 15 verso (D26703, D26696, D26694, D26693, D26728, D26719, D26718, D26717, D26716; CCLXXII 20a, 16a, 15a, 15, 13v, 28a, 28, 27a, 27). Stirling and the West sketchbook: Tate D26341, D26393, D26397, D26401, D26405 (Turner Bequest CCLXIX 44, 70a, 72a, 74a, 76a).

Technical notes:

This page was numbered CCLXXII 12 by A.J. Finberg and regarded as the Recto of the page.1 Since the sketchbook was rebound by Edward Croft-Murray the page has now become the verso of folio 6 (see the Loch Ard sketchbook Introduction). The recto is blank other than the inscription ‘6’ in pencil by an unknown hand at the bottom right of the page, and Croft-Murray’s inscription ‘6’ at the top right of the page.