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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Staffa from the South-East 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Recto:
Staffa from the South-East 1831
D26782
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 21
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘21’ top left running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 21’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
These two studies of the Isle of Staffa from the south-east were made shortly before Turner landed at the south of the island near the entrance to Fingal’s Cave (see folio 20 verso; D26781). The entrance to the cave is visible as a shaded area at the left of the bottom sketch. The top sketch was made from a slightly more easterly position, so that the entrance to the cave is not visible. This sketch, however, does take in the wave-shaped curve of the rocks surrounding the Clamshell cave at the right.
For references to all of Turner’s sketches of Staffa and Fingal’s Cave see folio 40 (D26817).

Thomas Ardill
March 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Staffa from the South-East 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 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-staffa-from-the-south-east-r1135140, accessed 28 March 2024.