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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Loch Katrine From the East End of Loch Arklet 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Loch Katrine From the East End of Loch Arklet’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 22 Recto:
Loch Katrine From the East End of Loch Arklet 1831
D26478
Turner Bequest CCLXX 22
Pencil on white wove paper, 125 x 201 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Loch Kat’ centre, ‘Loch Arklet’ bottom right
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘22’ bottom left descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXX – 22’ bottom left descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Having walked east along the north side of Loch Arklet (see folio 21 verso; D26477), Turner approached Stronachlachar on Loch Katrine from the slopes above the pier.1 The artist made the present sketch when he first caught sight of Loch Katrine (inscribed ‘Loch Kat’), with the mountain of Ben Venue at the far end of the loch at the right. The east end of ‘Loch Arklet’ can be seen at the bottom-right corner of the sketch. The drawing was probably useful to remind Turner of the geographical relationship between Loch Arklet and Katrine. It also expresses his excitement at seeing the location of Scott’s poem Lady of the Lake for the first time.
Turner made another sketch of the loch as he got closer to Stronachlachar (folio 22 verso; D26479). For more information about Turner’s visit to Loch Katrine and references to further sketches of it, see folio 47 (D26528).

Thomas Ardill
October 2009

1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner Round the Clyde and in Islay – 1831’, 1991, Tate catalogue files, folio 3.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Loch Katrine From the East End of Loch Arklet 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 2009, 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-loch-katrine-from-the-east-end-of-loch-arklet-r1134912, accessed 27 April 2024.