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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Distant Mountains Seen From the Caledonian Canal Beyond Neptune's Staircase 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Distant Mountains Seen From the Caledonian Canal Beyond Neptune's Staircase’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 5 Recto:
Distant Mountains Seen From the Caledonian Canal Beyond Neptune’s Staircase 1831
D26971
Turner Bequest CCLXXVI 5
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 150 x 184 mm irregular
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘5’ bottom left descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXVI 5’ bottom left descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Drawn towards the fore-edge of the page (which is at the top) is a sketch of distant mountains with water in the foreground. This has been identified as a view looking south-west towards the mountains beyond Corpach from the Caladonian Canal, just north of the system of locks called Neptune’s Staircase.
Beneath this, towards the page gutter and drawn with the sketchbook inverted, is another sketch of distant mountains, again with water in the foreground. This shows Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr to the west from the same place. These sketches follows views in the sketchbook of Ben Nevis made from Neptune’s Staircase: folios, 2, 3 and 4 (D26967, D26968, D26969).
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Thomas Ardill
April 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Distant Mountains Seen From the Caledonian Canal Beyond Neptune’s Staircase 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-distant-mountains-seen-from-the-caledonian-canal-beyond-r1135336, accessed 20 April 2024.