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

These three sketches were made on Loch Ness shortly after Turner left Fort Augustus on his steamboat journey north to Inverness. The village is seen from the loch in the sketches at the top and the bottom of the page. The bottom sketch, drawn with the book inverted, was the first to be made on this page (shortly after sketches on folios 17 and 17 verso; D26994, D26995) as it shows a view from near the mouth of the Caledonian Canal. The main subject at the centre of the sketch is the old fort with the distant Loch Lochy Hills behind it. To the right are the entrance to the canal and the River Oich with the Old River Oich Bridge.

The sketch at the top of the page shows the same view from a little further off, again with the fort at the centre and the bridge to its right. Beneath is a view of the shore of Loch Ness, probably the western shore. There may be several sketches that overlap each other.

For further sketches of Fort Augustus see folio 18 (D26996). There are sketches of Loch Ness on folios 13, 15, 15 verso, 16 verso, 17 verso, 20 and 33 verso (D26986, D26990, D26991, D26993, D26995, D27000, D27024), and it can be seen in many of the sketches of the Falls of Foyers on the eastern shore of the loch (see folio 40 verso; D27034), and in the sketches of Urquhart Castle on the western shore (see folio 19; D26998).