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 Views of the Firth of Forth From the River 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Views of the Firth of Forth From the River’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 23 Verso:
Views of the Firth of Forth From the River 1831
D26664
Turner Bequest CCLXXI 23a
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 101 x 158 mm
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXI – 23a’ top left descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have suggested that the middle of the three sketches of shorelines and shipping may show Clackmannan Pow, where the Black Devon river joins the River Forth.1 Wallace-Hadrill has also suggested that the bottom sketch may be of Bo’ness, which is also drawn on folio 24 (D26665). The top sketch depicts a small harbour, with a quay and boats moored alongside or attached to buoys nearby. This may be Grangemouth, situated on the south bank between Bo’ness and Clackmannan. Another option is Dunmore, which has a pier of this shape, though it is a much less significant harbour. There is also a thumbnail sketch at the top centre of the page of distant hills. These have not been identified.
For more information on Turner’s trip along the Firth of Forth, see the inside back cover of this sketchbook (D41132).

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.15.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Views of the Firth of Forth From the River 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-views-of-the-firth-of-forth-from-the-river-r1135101, accessed 20 September 2024.