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

David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan identified these three sketches as (from top to bottom): Ben Ledi, the Main Street of Callander, and Callander Bridge.1

The sketch of Ben Ledi at the top of the page was probably made from around Kilmahog, a Hamlet that lies half a mile to the west of Callander. The mountain, perhaps a little exaggerated in size in this sketch, looms above the Pass of Leny, a pass through which the River Leny flows, with the foot of Bochastle Hill at the left and Meall nan Saighdear to the right. The river itself is not obvious in the sketch, but shapes in the foreground suggest boulders in the river.

The middle sketch is a view of Callander’s Main Street, with the tower of the old Parish Church as seen from the west. Turner made a sketch of the Main Street and Church from the east on folio 37 verso (D26686; CCLXXII 11).

The third sketch down depicts Callander Bridge from upstream to the north-west. In front of the bridge to the left is a mound called Tom na Kessaig, written ‘Tom ma Chisaig’ on the Ordnance Survey map. This sketch is labelled ‘2’ by Turner.

At the bottom of the page, presumably drawn with the book turned to the left, is what appears to be the slight continuation of a sketch. This is presumably a continuation from the left of the sketch of Bracklinn Falls on folio 21 (D26739; CCLXXII 38a), although the correct order of pages in this book is not certain.

For further sketches of Callander, the pass of Leny and other nearby sites, see folio 33 (D26741; CCLXXII 39a).