This identification probably explains why Turner stopped at the southern outskirts of Stirling and tried out different compositions of the view of the city. The subject no doubt had touristic interest for the artist who always took an interest in the history of the places he visited and must have been inspired, like many, to take an interest in Scottish history by the works of Walter Scott.
7 Although Turner did not work up a view of Bannockburn for an illustration to Scott, such a view may have been considered by the artist and the publisher Robert Cadell as a possible illustration to the first volume of Scott’s
Tales of a Grandfather (1828), which included an account of the battle (chapter 10), and was published as volume 22 of the collected
Prose Work by Cadell in 1836. In the event the volume was illustrated with Turner’s
Edinburgh from St Anthony’s Chapel circa 1834 (whereabouts unknown)
8 and
Dunfermline circa 1834 (private collection),
9 while a different view of
Stirling circa 1834–5 (Glasgow Museums)
10 was chosen to illustrate volume 23, which, according to Gerald Finley, referred to the reign of James V.
11