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

With the sketchbook turned to the left, Turner has used this page for two sketches. At the top is a study of three of four figures pushing, pulling and walking with a handcart, another version of which appears on the opposite page (folio 67; D13579). The figures are rapidly sketched, but there is enough detail to indicate the look of the cart and their clothing, and to capture a sense of their purpose.

Turner did not use the scene directly in any of his watercolours or paintings, but there are in his Scottish subjects many figures with the same characteristics as those in this study, and his watercolour, Heriot’s Hospital, circa 1819 (National Gallery of Scotland),1 includes several figures pushing a cart, this time full of coal and with the aid of a horse. During his previous visit to Scotland in 1801, Turner had kept a sketchbook of Scotch Figures (Tate D03440–D03631 complete sketchbook; Turner Bequest LIX;), showing individuals and small groups, many in highland dress, and most engaged in street activities like the studies on the present and following folios, including one of two men with a cart (Tate D03450; Turner Bequest LIX 10). Although he did not dedicate a sketchbook to them during this tour there are several other figure studies scattered throughout the 1818 Scottish sketchbooks (see folio 67; D13579).

The sketch at the bottom of this page may show the side of Arthur’s Seat with the ruin of St Anthony’s Chapel looking over the city of Edinburgh with the outline of the castle on the horizon. The view is one of Edinburgh’s most famous and is included in Scott’s Provincial Antiquities with an engraving by George Cooke after A.W. Calcott.2 Turner also sketched the view in 1801 and 1822 as well as during this tour (see Bass Rock and Edinburgh Sketchbook, Tate D13422; Turner Bequest CLXVI 55a for further references).