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

This set of sketches was made during Turner’s steamboat journey on the Maid of Morven from Tobermory to the Isle of Staffa (see folio 43; D26823). At the bottom left of the page, drawn with the sketchbook inverted, is a sketch of three islands inscribed ‘Dutchm[an’s] Cap’. This curious name refers to the small island at the right, Bac Mòr, which is also known by that name. The island in the middle is recognisable by the steep cliff-edge at the right as Lunga, which means that the irregularly shaped island at the left must be Fladda. These are the Treshnish Isles that lie off the west coast of Mull and to the south of Coll. They are seen here from the north.

Beneath this is a sketch of a cliff with islands to the right that David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have suggested may be Treshnish Point.1 The shape of the cliff is indeed a good match for the headland at the north-west of Mull as seen from the north. The island to the right is the right shape for Lunga, so the islands to the right of that are probably Bac Mòr and Bac Beag, though in the sketch they appear closer to the shore of Mull than perhaps they should.

Lunga is shown again in the sketch at the centre of the page, drawn with the book turned in the opposite direction. Above this is a sketch of a cliff-edge, headland or part of an island with smaller islands to the right that Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan suggest may be the isle of Staffa from the north,2 in which case Turner has included the Ross of Mull in the background to the right.

There are further sketches of the Treshnish Isles on folios 40–42 verso (D26817–D26822), and further sketches of Staffa on folios 8 verso–9, 18 verso–22 verso, 24 verso, 27 verso–30 verso, 34 verso, 35, 39, 40, and 40 verso (D26760–D26761, D26777–D26785, D26788, D26794 –D26800, D26806, D26807, D26815, D26817, D26818).