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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ben Venue, From Across Loch Katrine 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 35 Recto:
Ben Venue, From Across Loch Katrine 1831
D26504
Turner Bequest CCLXX 35
Pencil on white wove paper, 125 x 201 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘35’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXX – 35’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
This page contains the first (according to the folio order of this sketchbook) in a series of sketches of Ben Venue from across Loch Katrine to the north. This series culminates in the sketch on folio 47 (D26528) which formed the basis of Turner’s watercolour, Loch Katrine circa 1832 (British Museum),1 engraved to illustrate volume 8 of Sir Walter Scott’s Poetical Works, The Lady of the Lake in 1834. Other views are on folios 36, 36 verso, 45 verso–46 verso and 48 (D26506, D26507, D26525–D26527, D26530). Ben Venue was also sketched from other points along the loch in this sketchbook (see folio 47 for further references).
Having travelled east along the loch from Stronachlachar (folio 22 verso; D26479) to the landing at the east end (folio 27; D26488), Turner must have ascended the slopes along the northern side of the loch at the foot of Ben A’an above the Silver Strand to take these views. The east end of the loch is seen at the left of the present sketch, with Ellen’s Island (Eilean Molach) at the centre of the page. This was the location for much of Scott’s Lady of the Lake, hence Turner’s interest in it. Like the other sketches of Ben Venue from across the loch, Turner took a good deal of care to record the shape and character of the mountain and the surrounding landscape.

Thomas Ardill
October 2009

1
Andrew Wilton, J.M.W. Turner: His Life and Work, Fribourg 1979, p.1084 no.1084.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Ben Venue, From Across Loch Katrine 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-ben-venue-from-across-loch-katrine-r1134938, accessed 28 March 2024.