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 Lochgoilhead 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lochgoilhead’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 10 Recto:
Lochgoilhead 1831
D26637
Turner Bequest CCLXXI 10
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 101 x 158 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘10’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXI – 10’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
There is nothing very distinctive about these three sketches of mountains on the shore of a loch. David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have suggested that they could be views of Loch Goil,1 or perhaps Loch Lomond.2
Lochgoilhead is certainly a possibility for the top sketch, which may show the view to the north of Loch Goil with Ben Donich at the right. The other views may also be views of the shores of Loch Goil, perhaps looking towards Corrow on the west shore, or south down the length of the loch. There are also slight sketches at the right of the page made with the book turned to the left. These seem to show an island, such as Ellen’s Island on Loch Katrine or one of the islands on Loch Lomond, but there is too little to go on to make any firm identification.
For further views of Loch Goil in this sketchbook, see folio 15 verso (D26648).

Thomas Ardill
October 2009

1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner Round the Clyde and In Islay – 1831’, 1991, Tate catalogue files, folio 8.
2
David Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Sketchbook CCLXXI Loch Long’, [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Lochgoilhead 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-lochgoilhead-r1135074, accessed 26 April 2024.