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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Staffa from the West 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Staffa from the West’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 19 Recto:
Staffa from the West 1831
D26778
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 19
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘19’ top left running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 19’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These two sketches of Staffa as seen from the west were made from the deck of the Maid of Morven steamboat which brought Turner to the island. Approaching from the north, the boat then steamed down the west side of the island before landing near Fingal’s Cave at the south. Turner made studies of the island from different vantage points, storing up topographical records for later use. The two sketches on this page therefore concentrate on the overall shape of the island, rather than details of its appearance. The page belongs to a sequence that charts the boat’s half-circuit of the island: folios 18 verso–24 verso and 27 verso–28 (D26777–D26788, D26794–D26795).
For references to all of Turner’s sketches of Staffa and Fingal’s Cave see folio 40 (D26817).

Thomas Ardill
March 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Staffa from the West 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 2010, 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-staffa-from-the-west-r1135136, accessed 25 April 2024.