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 Rothesay, Isle of Bute 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Rothesay, Isle of Bute’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 37 Recto:
Rothesay, Isle of Bute 1831
D26508
Turner Bequest CCLXX 37
Pencil on white wove paper, 201 x 125 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘37’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXX – 37’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Turner helpfully inscribed the two sketches on this page ‘Rothsay C’. The town on the Isle of Bute is seen in the lower sketch with the pier and boats in the harbour at the left. Rothesay Castle is seen at the right, with the mountains of the Isle of Arran including Goatfell behind it in the distance. The mountains are drawn again above the sketch, and continue very slightly onto folio 36 verso (D26507). There is another view of the town and castle on folio 34 (D26502).
Turner landed at Rothesay during a steamboat journey from Glasgow to Islay (see folio 15; D26464).1 From here he continued to Kames Bay (folio 77; D26588).

Thomas Ardill
June 2010

1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner Round the Clyde and Islay – 1831’, [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Rothesay, Isle of Bute 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, June 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-rothesay-isle-of-bute-r1134942, accessed 26 April 2024.