Joseph Mallord William Turner

Kinkell Castle and Strathconon, the Black Isle

1831

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Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Part of: Inverness Sketchbook
Medium: Graphite on paper
Dimensions: Support: 104 × 163 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference: D27064
Turner Bequest CCLXXVII 11

Catalogue entry

David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have made two suggestions for the identity of this ruined tower house. Wallace-Hadrill initially suggested Fairburn Tower in Strathconon, to the south-west of Conon Bridge on the Black Isle.1 However, Carolan’s suggestion of Kinkell Castle is a closer match for the ruin (which has three storeys and a circular stair-tower at one corner), and lies closer to Turner’s most likely route north to Evanton from Inverness. The background is a good match for Strathconon, which lies to the west of the castle, with the River Conon running through it. There is another view of the same castle on folio 10 verso (D27063).

David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Sketchbook CCLXXVII Inverness’, [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files, [unpaginated].

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Thomas Ardill
April 2010

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