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

This sketch shows the ‘Inversnaith [Inversnaid] Landing’ at the east of Loch Lomond. David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have suggested that Turner made this sketch, not when he first disembarked there after having steamed up the length of the loch and round its head, but after having made a round trip along Loch Arklet and Loch Katrine to the western end of Loch Achray.1 This is plausible as the sketch includes a small steamboat just arriving at the landing; this is likely to be the Euphrosyne which plied this route.2 People stand by the shore waiting to be picked up with ponies that were provided to carry tourists to Loch Katrine.3

Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan have suggested that the sketch at the top of the page of a mountain profile may be Ben Vane, which can be seen across the loch to the west. Turner’s inscription is probably a phonetic attempt to spell out the name of one of the mountains near here, perhaps Coire nam Each.

On the reverse of this page (folio 92 verso; D26618) is a sketch of the Arklet Falls, which are near the Inversnaid landing. For references to sketches of Loch Lomond see folio 23 (D26480), and for more information about Turner’s route around the lake and Trossachs, see Tour of Scotland for Scott’s Poetical Works 1831 Tour Introduction.