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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Fort Augustus from Loch Ness 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 17 Verso:
Fort Augustus from Loch Ness 1831
D26995
Turner Bequest CCLXXVI 17a
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 150 x 180 mm irregular
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Loch Ness n’ upper centre inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
From the mouth of the River Oich at the southern end of Loch Ness this view looks south across Fort Augustus towards the Loch Lochy Hills in the distance. Two waterways run parallel to each other through the village to Loch Oich in the south. At the right is the old River Oich Bridge with the entrance to the Caledonian Canal to the left. A series of locks are depicted a little way up the canal. Behind the canal is the old fort, after which the village is named. Having made this sketch the artist turned around to make a view looking north up Loch Ness, drawn at the top of this page with the sketchbook inverted.
Turner made a similar, though more detailed and finished, drawing of Fort Augustus on the reverse of this page (folio 17; D26994). There is also a more distant view of Fort Augustus from Loch Ness on folio 18 verso (D26997). For references to further sketches of the village see folio 18 (D26996).

Thomas Ardill
April 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Fort Augustus from Loch Ness 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-fort-augustus-from-loch-ness-r1135360, accessed 26 April 2024.