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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Redcastle on the Northern Shore of the Beauly Firth 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Redcastle on the Northern Shore of the Beauly Firth’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 142 Recto:
?Redcastle on the Northern Shore of the Beauly Firth 1831
D27219
Turner Bequest CCLXXVII 142
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 163 x 104 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘142’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXVII 142’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the sketchbook inverted from Ruskin and Finberg’s presumed orientation are two sketches, one of which shows a castle and the other a spire and rooftop. David Wallace-Hadrill has suggested that the castle is seen from across water, which has lead Janet Carolan to suggest Foulis Castle on the northern shore of Cromarty Firth as an identification.1
The castle that Turner has depicted, however, seems to have a number of turrets, while Foulis is a Georgian mansion without such details. A closer match in terms of architecture and background is perhaps Redcastle on the northern shore of the Beauly Firth. This may also account for the spire in the second sketch, as there was a spire of this sort on Redcastle. The top sketch continues slightly onto folio 141 verso (D41038).
1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Sketchbook CCLXXVII Inverness’, [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files, [unpaginated].
Verso:
Blank

Thomas Ardill
April 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘?Redcastle on the Northern Shore of the Beauly Firth 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-redcastle-on-the-northern-shore-of-the-beauly-firth-r1135586, accessed 28 June 2025.