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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Loch Long Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Glen Goil 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Glen Goil’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 15 Recto:
Glen Goil 1831
D26647
Turner Bequest CCLXXI 15
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 101 x 158 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Glen Goil’ upper left
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘15’ bottom left descending
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXI – 15’ bottom left descending
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
At the top of the page is a sketch inscribed ‘Glen Goil’. The peak on the right must be Ben Donich, making the mountains to the left Beinn an t-seilich and Stob an East. The view is from the south end of Glen Goil near Lochgoilhead. Turner passed through Glen Goil during a round trip that brought him up Loch Long and Loch Goil by steamer, onto St Catherine’s at Loch Fyne, going through Glen Goil by coach, before rounding the head of the loch and passing through Glen Croe to the head of Loch Long. There are similar views of the glen on folios 1 verso, 15 and 16 verso (D26620, D26647, D26650) and another sketch of a different view of the glen on folio 10 verso (D26638).
The ruined castle depicted at the bottom of the page with the sketchbook inverted has not been identified. There may be another view of the same ruin on folio 9 verso (D26636).

Thomas Ardill
October 2009

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Glen Goil 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-glen-goil-r1135084, accessed 26 April 2024.