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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner Castle Shuna, Castle Stalker and Other Views 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 38 Recto:
Castle Shuna, Castle Stalker and Other Views 1831
D26813
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 38
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 116 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Shuna’ top, ‘Ben [...]’ bottom inverted
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘38’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 38’ bottom right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
The sketches on this page record the continuation of Turner’s journey up Loch Linnhe towards Ballachulish. Having steamed up the Lynn of Lorn (folio 39 verso; D26816) and passed Port Appin (folio 38 verso (D26814), the sketches on this page were made around the Sound of Shuna. At the top of the page is a sketch inscribed ‘Shuna’. This depicts Shuna Castle, which stands at the south of Shuna Island. Turner made two sketches of the castle on folio 38 verso. The view of the castle in the present sketch, David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan suggest, may indicate that the boat Turner was travelling on passed Shuna Island to the east, travelling along the Sound of Shuna.1
At the top right of the page is a small study of Castle Stalker as seen from the west. Beneath is another sketch of the castle from the same view, this time including its setting on Loch Laich (just off Loch Linnhe). There are further sketches of Castle Stalker on folios 38 verso and 39 (D26815).
At the centre of the page is a sketch of a hilly shoreline. This may be Appin Hill above Appin House on the coast opposite Shuna, as seen from the Sound of Shuna.
At the bottom of the page, drawn with the sketchbook inverted, is a sketch of mountain peaks with an inscription that has not been deciphered. This may be a view from Loch Linnhe, perhaps looking across the loch to the mountains to the west, or it may be a sketch made during Turner’s visit to Glen Coe (see folio 2; D26750 for references).

Thomas Ardill
March 2010

1
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan, ‘Turner’s Journey from Oban to Inverness, 1831’, [circa 1991], Tate catalogue files, [folio 1 and 14].

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Castle Shuna, Castle Stalker and Other Views 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, March 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-castle-shuna-castle-stalker-and-other-views-r1135171, accessed 20 September 2024.