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

Two of the sketches on this page feature a bridge with roundels between its arches. David Wallace-Hadrill and Janet Carolan have identified this as the three-arched Fochabers Bridge, or Old Spey Bridge, over the River Spey at Fochabers near Elgin.1 This may also be depicted on folio 146 verso (D27225). Turner is likely to have crossed this bridge on his route from Elgin to Aberdeen, so the suggestion is convincing. Less convincing, perhaps, is their suggestion that the four sketches depict the nearby Gordon Castle. It is possible that Gordon Castle is depicted in the top and second from top sketches and on folio 144 verso (D27222), but impossible that it is the subject of the bottom two. Although Gordon Castle now only consists of a single tower, in 1831 it was a grand palace with long wings either side of the tower; these have since been demolished. The sketch at the centre of the page consists of a single tower, which is inscribed ‘QM’, perhaps standing for Queen Mary Stuart, and ‘Killen’, the significance of which has not been ascertained. The sketch at the bottom of the page, drawn with the book turned to the right, is a ruin of a castle or church.

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