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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1831 > Loch Long Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ruined Castle 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ruined Castle’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 9 Verso:
Ruined Castle 1831
D26636
Turner Bequest CCLXXI 9a
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 158 x 101 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXI – 9a’ bottom left
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg’s suggestion of a ‘Ruined abbey on [a] rock’ is perhaps a bit ambitious for the sketch at the top of this page, which is probably a ruined castle. However, no identification has been made. Possibilities are Carrick Castle or Dunderave Castle, both of which Turner sketched during the route covered in this sketchbook, but neither of which closely resembles the sketch here. A sketch on folio 15 (D26647) may depict the same building.
The other two sketches, drawn beneath the castle with the sketchbook inverted, show a mountainous loch shore. The top sketch somewhat resembles the entrance to Glen Croe (see folio 14 verso; D26646).

Thomas Ardill
July 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Ruined Castle 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, July 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-ruined-castle-r1135073, accessed 19 April 2024.