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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner ?Castle Stuart, Moray Firth 1831

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘?Castle Stuart, Moray Firth’ 1831
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 144 Recto:
?Castle Stuart, Moray Firth 1831
D27221
Turner Bequest CCLXXVII 144
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 163 x 104 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ?‘Moray N’ top left
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘144’ top left inverted
Stamped in black ‘CCLXXVII 144’ top left inverted
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have suggested that the tower depicted in this small and rough sketch may be Castle Stuart, a tower house on the southern bank of the Moray Firth between Inverness and Nairn, which Turner may have passed on his journey to Elgin. The castle is recognisable by the small open-crown spire at one end. There may be a slightly more carefully executed sketch of the same castle on folio 85 verso (D27151). Turner’s inscription may say ‘Moray’, referring to the Moray Firth.
There is a small hole at the top centre of the page.

Thomas Ardill
May 2010

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘?Castle Stuart, Moray Firth 1831 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, May 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-castle-stuart-moray-firth-r1135588, accessed 24 April 2024.