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

This sketch of Duniquoich Hill (Dùn na Cuaiche) with Aray Bridge was probably made from Inveraray Pier to the south. Having crossed Loch Fyne on the ferry from St Catherine’s (folio 16; D26466), Turner landed at Inveraray Pier, and made a sketch of the view that he had painted in watercolour in 1801 (Tate D03635 ad D41247; Turner Bequest LX D and LVI 38b). Drawing the hill in detail with its wooded slopes and the watchtower at its summit meant that in other sketches Turner could save time by just drawing the outline, as in folio 19 (D26472), which was also made from the pier or near by. For further sketches of Inveraray, see folio 19 verso (D26473).

Surrounding the depiction of the hill are five sketches that Finberg, in his inventory, identified as Kilchurn Castle on the shore of Loch Awe;1 although in his own copy of the book he later changed this to Carrick Castle with a pencil annotation.2 The original identification was followed in an exhibition catalogue of 1982, though David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan noted the later correction in the course of their research.3 The two authors also offered Dunderave Castle as a possible identification (though a less likely one),4 but Carrick remains by far the closest visual match to the sketches, and matches the inscription on the other side of this page (folio 18; D26470).

It is curious that the most detailed sketches that Turner made of Carrick Castle were not made as he passed the structure while travelling up Loch Goil; they were apparently made when he passed the castle for a second time, from a distance of about two miles at the mouth of Loch Goil, as he travelled down the length of Loch Long (see folio 17 verso; D26469).5 Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan have pointed out:

Although Turner made a number of views of Carrick Castle from the mouth of Loch Goil (folio 18; D26470), and from the north towards Lochgoilhead (Tate D26623; Turner Bequest CCLXXI 3), it cannot be known why he did not sketch the castle as he passed it close by; perhaps some distraction on the steamboat he was travelling on prevented him.

Turner’s restricted view from the mouth of Loch Goil explains why all his views on the present page are from the south-east, or east. Therefore the first sketch to be made was presumably the one at the bottom right of the page, which was drawn (along with three of the other sketches) with the book turned to the left. This view is from the east, which is the angle Turner would have first seen it from first as he was travelling south down Loch Long. The other four sketches are seen from the south-east, with the tiny sketch at the top right of the page being the final view that Turner drew, just before the castle was obscured by the headland at the south-east of Loch Goil. The sketch at the top left also includes the mountains to the west of the castle: Cruach à Bhuic at the left behind the castle and Sgurr a’ Choinnich and Beannan to the right. Most of the artist’s sketches of Carrick Castle were made in the Loch Long sketchbook; (see Tate D2664; Turner Bequest CCLXXI 15a for details).