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

At the left of this page is a sketch of the battlements of Edinburgh Castle as seen from the north-east. The most distinctive feature is the turret at the part of the castle called Mill’s Mount with the Argyll Battery running to its left. The Castle sits on a huge crag known as Castle Rock and Turner’s inscription in this part of the picture presumably reads ‘Rock’, although, considering that it looks more like ‘Rork’ it is possible that Turner was imitating, mocking or getting confused by the Scottish pronunciation of the word. As David Wallace Hadrill has pointed out, Turner exhibited, in later Scottish tours, an interest in recording the Gaelic language and Scottish manner of speech.1

The sketch on the right, drawn with the book turned to the right, is a rough depiction of a ruin which may perhaps represent St Anthony’s Chapel on Arthur’s Seat (see 60 verso; D13428; CLXV 58a). A similar sketch appears on folio 67 (D13441; CLXV 65).