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

Drawn with the sketchbook inverted is a faint sketch that has been identified as one of several views of Stirling Castle from the south (see folio 46 verso; D26346 for further references).1 More specifically, however, it is a view from near the village of Borestone with Bannock Burn in the foreground. It is one of a number of sketches in which Turner tried out different views of the battlefield of Bannockburn with the castle in the distance. While the sketch is quite slight and economical in detail, there is a certain flourish and confidence in Turner’s free but precise lines. Henry Crawford admired this, and pointed to this drawing as an example of ‘showing the suggestion of essentials an artist can get into a few pencil strikes.’2

See folio 46 verso for more information on Turner’s sketches of Bannockburn, and see folio 44 verso (D26342) for a full list of Turner’s sketches of Stirling in this book.