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 Dunstaffnage Castle and the Falls of Lora, Loch Etive 1831

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Dunstaffnage Castle and the Falls of Lora, Loch Etive’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 83 Recto:
Dunstaffnage Castle and the Falls of Lora, Loch Etive 1831
D26904
Turner Bequest CCLXXIII 83
Pencil on white wove paper, 116 x 186 mm
Inscribed in blue ink by John Ruskin ‘83’ top left running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXIII 83’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
From the road on the southern bank of Loch Etive just west of Connel Ferry, this view looks north-east towards the mouth of the loch, with Dunstaffnage Castle standing on a promontory at the left. Turner’s view was perhaps more panoramic than it appears in the sketch, showing the north bank of the loch at North Connel, and the rocky headland beyond at the northern mouth of the loch called Ledaig Point. Behind this is the island of Linnhe, with the mountains of Morvern in the distance at the right and Mull at the left. The water is moving rapidly at this point just downstream of Lora Falls, as Turner has indicated in the sketch.
Turner has noted that the rainy sky beneath the clouds is ‘gold’. Further notes on the appearance of the sky over Dunstaffnage were made on folio 82 verso (D26903), and the setting of the sun is observed on folio 81 verso (D26901).
For further sketches of Dunstaffnage see folio 89 (D26916); references to Turner’s sketches of Loch Etive are on folio 95 verso (D26929).

Thomas Ardill
February 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Dunstaffnage Castle and the Falls of Lora, Loch Etive 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-dunstaffnage-castle-and-the-falls-of-lora-loch-etive-r1135261, accessed 26 April 2024.