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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Clunes near Loch Lochy 1831

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 7 Recto:
?Clunes near Loch Lochy 1831
D26974
Turner Bequest CCLXXVI 7
Pencil on off-white laid writing paper, 150 x 184 mm irregular
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘7’ top left running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXVI 7’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have suggested that these sketches may show either the hamlet of Bunarkaig or Clunes at the south-west of Loch Lochy. Both have small bridges like the single-arched bridge in the sketches, but of the two suggestions, Clunes is particularly compelling. It has a small arched stone bridge, behind which to the west is a hillock that is covered in birch trees; this is the burial ground Cladh Tom Mhòir.1 To the north are the slopes of Leac Chorrach, which could be the hill at the right. The sketch at the top of the page shows the same place from a different view. For further views of Loch Lochy see folio 6 and 6 verso (D26972, D26973).
There is a tear at the top left. This evidently occurred before John Ruskin examined the sketchbook in 1856 as he wrote the page number ‘7’ to the left of it.

Thomas Ardill
April 2010

1
‘Cladh Tom Mhoir: Archaeological Notes’, Scottish Places, accessed 9 April 2010, http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=RCAHMS&id=23736.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘?Clunes near Loch Lochy 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 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-clunes-near-loch-lochy-r1135339, accessed 29 March 2024.