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

Rather than a view from the north-east, as David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan suggest,1 the two views of Dunstaffnage Castle on this page were in fact made from the south across Dunstaffnage Bay. At the top of the page is a view of the castle from the south-west of the promontory (at the end of which the castle stands). Behind the castle is the island of Lismore, and to the right across the mouth of Loch Etive and Loch Linnhe are the hills of Morvern.

The drawing at the bottom of the page shows a similar view, though made from around the bay directly to the south of the castle, a little way up the hill from the village of Dunbeg (formally known as Dunstaffnage). Lismore is again seen behind the castle to the left, with Dunstaffnage Bay in the foreground and the island called Eilean Mòr to the right of the castle.

There are similar views of the castle on folio 94 (D26926) and 97 (D26934; CCLXXIII 98). For a full list of Turner’s sketches of Dunstaffnage see folio 89 (D26916).