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 Alloa From the Firth of Forth 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Alloa From the Firth of Forth’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 21 Recto:
Alloa From the Firth of Forth 1831
D26659
Turner Bequest CCLXXI 21
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 101 x 158 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘alloa’ upper centre
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘21’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXI – 21’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The two sketches on this page are both of the town of Alloa near Stirling, as seen from a boat on the Firth of Forth.1 With the sketchbook turned to the left, the sketch at the top of the page is labelled ‘alloa’, and shows the town at the left of the sketch with the slender spire of St Mungo’s Church marked with a dark line. At the right of the sketch is Clackmannan Tower, with the Orchil Hills making up a backdrop. The second sketch, made with the book inverted, shows almost the same view, though now more of Alloa has come into sight, including boats in the harbour. Clackmannan Tower can no longer be seen, and dark rain clouds above the scene cast shadows onto the hills below. Further signs of bad weather over the Forth are seen on folios 20 verso, 22, 24 and the inside back cover of the sketchbook (D26658, D26661, D26666, D41132). A sketch at the top of folio 21 verso (D26660) contains a similar view of Alloa.
At the head of the page, a continuation of a sketch on folio 20 verso (D26658) overlaps one of the sketches.

Thomas Ardill
October 2009

1
Dr David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner’s Sketches North of Stirling’, Turner Studies: His Art and Epoch 1775–1851, Summer 1990 vol.10 no.1, p.16.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Alloa From the Firth of Forth 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-alloa-from-the-firth-of-forth-r1135096, accessed 24 April 2024.