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 Three Sketches of Glencoe with Achtriochtan 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Three Sketches of Glencoe with Achtriochtan’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 31 Recto:
Three Sketches of Glencoe with Achtriochtan 1831
D26801
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 31
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 116 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Loch Troten’ upper centre, ‘Glenco’ centre
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘31’ bottom left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 31’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These three sketches all show views looking east along Glencoe. At the top, inscribed ‘Loch Troten’, is a sketch of Loch Achtriochtan (also known as Triochtan), the small loch towards the west end of the glen. Rising above it at the right is the shoulder of Bidean nam Bian with Aonach Dubh, the most westerly of the Three Sisters, and at the left is Notched Ridge (Aonach Eagach).
The middle sketch, inscribed ‘Glenco’, brings us to the east of the loch with another view up the glen. The similar view of the bottom sketch includes a small building in the foreground. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland have a photograph of a croft at Achtriochtan,1 where a farm now stands a mile to the east of the loch. This may be the building in the photograph. The shape of Aonach Eagach and Bidean nam Bian are correct for a view from this point. For further views of Glencoe see folio 2 (D26750).
1
‘Glen Coe, Achtriochtan’. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, accessed 1 April 2010, http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/106544/details/glen+coe+achtriochtan/.
Verso:
Blank

Thomas Ardill
April 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Three Sketches of Glencoe with Achtriochtan 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-three-sketches-of-glencoe-with-achtriochtan-r1135159, accessed 26 April 2024.