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

At the top of the page is a sketch of the view south down Loch Goil. Turner made a number of sketches of this view in this sketchbook; see folio 4 verso (D26626) for references.

The sketch across the centre of the page has been identified by David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan from a contemporary print as Garelochhead.1 There is no further evidence, however, that Turner visited Gare Loch, suggesting that this may be another town.

At the left of the page, with the sketchbook turned to the right, is a very slight sketch overlapping the other two sketches on the page. It is inscribed ‘Rob Roy Rock’, and presumably refers to Rob Roy’s Cave on the east shore of Loch Lomond just north of Inversnaid. The cave, which appears from the water as little more than a crack in the rocks, is clearly marked although the rest of the shore is only vaguely indicated. Turner made another rough sketch of the rock with the inscription ‘Rob Roy’s Cave’ in the Stirling and the West sketchbook (Tate D26589; Turner Bequest CCLXX 77a).