Joseph Mallord William Turner

The larger sketch on this page is of Ben Venue from Loch Katrine. The sketch was made from somewhere around the foot of Ben A’an on the north shore of the loch at its east end. The slope of the mountain is recognisable from several similar sketches in this book, most notably on folio 45 verso (D26525). This shows a more highly worked up study of the mountain and loch, from perhaps slightly west of the position where Turner made the current sketch.

With the sketchbook inverted at the fore-edge of the page is a sketch inscribed ‘Balygrant | Islay’, which David Wallace-Hadrill has suggested may show the engine houses at the lead mine of Mulreesh near Ballygrant on the island of Islay. See folio 37 verso (D26509) for information on Turner’s visit to Islay).1