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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ben Vane and Ben Arthur, Seen from the East End of Loch Arklet 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 12 Recto:
Ben Vane and Ben Arthur, Seen from the East End of Loch Arklet 1831
D26641
Turner Bequest CCLXXI 12
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 101 x 158 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Loch Arkell’ centre-left
Inscribed by John Ruskin in red ink ‘12’ bottom left descending
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXI – 12’ bottom left descending
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Having alighted at Inversnaid on Loch Lomond, Turner travelled along the north shore of Loch Arklet to Stronachlachar on Loch Katrine. Although his intention was clearly to get to Loch Katrine, the artist did make a sketch from halfway along Loch Arklet in the Stirling and West sketchbook (Tate D26477; Turner Bequest CCLXX 21a). When he reached the east end of the loch he made two sketches of the view towards Loch Katrine (Tate D26478, D26479; Turner Bequest CCLXX 22, 22 a), and turned back to Loch Arklet to sketch this view looking west across the water.1 At the head of the loch is the peak of Ben Vane.
Ben Vane is shown again in the sketch at the bottom of the page, made with the book inverted. This mountain and others at the west of Loch Lomond are again seen from the east of Loch Arklet. Ben Vane is at the right of the group with the ridged summit of Ben Arthur at the left.

Thomas Ardill
October 2009

1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner Round the Clyde and In Islay – 1831’, 1991, Tate catalogue files, folio 8.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Ben Vane and Ben Arthur, Seen from the East End of Loch Arklet 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2009, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, December 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-ben-vane-and-ben-arthur-seen-from-the-east-end-of-loch-r1135078, accessed 28 March 2024.