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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner 'Sound of Kerrera' from Gallanach Bay 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘'Sound of Kerrera' from Gallanach Bay’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 77 Verso:
‘Sound of Kerrera’ from Gallanach Bay 1831
D26893
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 77a
Pencil on white wove paper, 186 x 116 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘Galan | Mac Dougall’ centre left, and ‘Sound of Kerrera’ centre
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
As Turner noted, this view is of the ‘Sound of Kerrera’ from Gallanach Bay (‘Galan’). Turner made a series of sketches from this location (folios 76 verso–79; D26891–D26896), with the present sketch looking north up the Sound of Kerrera with a sailing boat (also seen on folio 76 verso), and across to the island of Kerrera with part of Gallanach Bay in the foreground. Another inscription refers to Clan ‘MacDougall’, who held the nearby Dunollie and Gylen Castles.
Turner has paid attention to the cloudy sky which he has shaded in places to suggest rain. Two pages of sky studies on folios 59 verso–60 (D26857–D26858) show views nearby that were presumably made around the same time.

Thomas Ardill
February 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘‘Sound of Kerrera’ from Gallanach Bay 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, February 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-sound-of-kerrera-from-gallanach-bay-r1135250, accessed 19 September 2024.