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

Turner made three sketches from Barr-nam-boc Bay at the west of the Isle of Kerrera (folios 62–63; D26862–D26864). The bay was then the main terminus for the ferry to Mull, and although Turner could have crossed over to Mull from here, David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan argue that he returned to Oban and set off from there.1

The current sketch, previously unidentified, shows the view in the opposite direction to the sketch on the reverse of this page: folio 62 verso, inscribed ‘Barnabouk’. The same houses are present in the foreground with the path leading to Gylen Castle (folios 63 verso–75 verso; D26865–D26889), and the shoulder of Torbhain Mòr. Across the Firth of Lorn is the Isle of Mull, with the mountains of Creach Beinn at the left and Sgùrr Dearg and Dun da Ghaoithe to the right.