Joseph Mallord William Turner

This sketch, continuing slightly at the left on the inside front cover of the sketchbook (D41082), has been identified as a view from North Queensferry across the Firth of Forth to South Queensferry near Edinburgh, with the island of Inchgarvie in between. David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan identified this sketch on the basis of Turner’s inscription – ‘North QQfrry’ – which they suggest is the artist’s shorthand for North Queensferry, the double-Q standing for the plural of Queen (though, as they point out, the ‘s’ in Queensferry is possessive not plural).1

The sketch is rather rough and the hills across the Forth appear to be too high for those beyond South Queensferry. Either Turner has exaggerated them or this is in fact a view of North Queensferry from the south.

The sketch precedes views of Dunfermline in this sketchbook, indicating that it was made when Turner crossed the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh on his way to Dunfermline.