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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Loch Long Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 18 Recto:
Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond 1831
D26653
Turner Bequest CCLXXI 18
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 101 x 158 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ?‘ardmable’ right
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘18’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXI – 18’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan made a number of suggested identifications for the sketch drawn across the top half of this page, based on Turner’s inscriptions which appear to say ‘ardmable’. They suggest that the word may read ‘Ardencaple’,1 referring to the area near Helensburgh once controlled by the Lairds of Ardencaple. However, the mountainous scenery bears no resemblance to this area. They have also suggested ‘Gareloch looking N[orth] “Portnacaple”’ and ‘L[och] Long “ardmable”’,2 but neither of these makes a good match.
Although it does not explain the inscription, a close match for the sketch is a view north up Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond at the right, as depicted in a sketch on folio 17 verso (D16652) which continues at the bottom of the present page. There is also a view looking north towards the head of the loch on folio 13 verso (D26644), and a sketch inscribed ‘H[ead] of Lo[mond]’ in the Stirling and the West sketchbook (Tate D26606–D26607; Turner Bequest CCLXX 86a–87) that closely resembles the present sketch.
The sketch across the bottom half of the page has not been identified with as much confidence, but it could be a view south down Loch Lomond from the same place.

Thomas Ardill
July 2010

1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner round the Clyde and in Islay – 1831’, 1991, Tate catalogue files, folio 9.
2
David Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Sketchbook CCLXXI Loch Long’, [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Loch Lomond with Ben Lomond 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 2010, 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-loch-lomond-with-ben-lomond-r1135090, accessed 26 April 2024.