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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > Scotland 1801-10 > Scotch Lakes Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Killicrankie 1801

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Killicrankie’ 1801
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 134 Recto:
Killicrankie 1801
D03170
Turner Bequest LVI 132
Pencil on white wove paper, 184 x 114 mm
Partial watermark ‘C Wi | 17’
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Village of Killy crankey’ bottom left
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram bottom right
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘132’ bottom right
Stamped in black ‘LVI – 132’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This is a continuation of the drawing on folio 133 verso (D41241). Turner had visited Killicrankie a little earlier in his journey, on his way south from Blair Atholl; see folios 123 verso–125 recto (D03151–D03154; Turner Bequest LVI 121a–122, 122a–123); this drawing was presumably done then, on an inadvertently opened page. Alternatively, it may be wrongly inscribed and represent a village near Dunkeld, perhaps Birnam on the opposite bank of the Tay.
A ‘Scottish Pencil’ known to Finberg as ‘Killicrankie’ (Tate D03415; Turner Bequest LVIII 36) can be compared with this drawing, though there are important differences, especially in the mountain range beyond the village.

Andrew Wilton
May 2013

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Killicrankie 1801 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 2013, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, April 2016, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-killicrankie-r1179366, accessed 16 April 2024.