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

Inscribed ‘Urqu[h]art Cas[tle]’ by Turner (not ‘Bit Giant’s Causeway’ as Finberg read it),1 this small sketch shows a view north across Loch Ness from Foyers Bay, in the direction of Urquhart Castle on the opposite western shore of the loch.2 Turner was steaming north up Loch Ness on a boat bound for Inverness, and had come ashore at Foyers Bay as part of a scheduled stop to see the Falls of Foyers (see folio 40 verso; D27034). Although the castle is not depicted in this sketch (and may not have been visible from this point), Turner would have known its location from the Steamboat Companion which provided a short history of the castle, advising steamboat passengers to look out for it on the western shore after embarking at Foyers.3 As his boat passed the castle, Turner made a number of careful studies of the ruins from different angles (see folio 19; D26998). There are two further views from Foyers Bay on folio 27 (D27014).