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

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1830-35 Annual tourist > Scotland 1834 > Edinburgh Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Firth of Forth 1834

Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Firth of Forth’ 1834
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 85 Recto:
Firth of Forth 1834
D26254
Turner Bequest CCLXVIII 85
Pencil on white wove paper, 111 x 181 mm
Inscribed in red ink by John Ruskin ‘85’ top right running vertically
Stamped in black ‘CCLXVIII – 85’ top right running vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Finberg identified this sketch of a harbour as the Firth of Forth,1 presumably because of the island to the right, which resembles Inchkeith near Leith. Therefore this be may a sketch of Leith Harbour with Inchkeith to the north at the right. The island may be depicted again on folios 77 verso and 78 verso (D26242, D26244). Sketches scattered throughout this sketchbook depict points on the east coast of England including Whitby (folio 77 verso) and the Essex and Kent coast (folio 2 verso; D26098), indicating that at the end of his visit to Edinburgh, the artist returned south by boat. This is perhaps the artist’s first sketch of the homeward journey. Having nearly reached the end of the sketchbook, Turner began working backwards through the sketchbook, filling in blank pages (or space on partially used pages) with sketches of the coast and shipping.
There is a brown mark at the right of the page.

Thomas Ardill
January 2011

1
Finberg 1909, II, p.863.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Firth of Forth 1834 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, January 2011, 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-firth-of-forth-r1136182, accessed 18 September 2024.