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

This is the second sketch that Turner made of Bonnington Linn in 1834. Following his sketch on folio 1 verso (D26260) this is a view from the north-west. Turner’s inscription ‘R’ at the centre of the sketch could stand for rock, or perhaps river. At the bottom left of the sketch is a figure, standing on the rocks at the bottom of the gorge. While this figure serves an important purpose in the sketch to indicate the scale of the waterfall, it is likely that it is a real person as the figure of a man is also included in the sketch of Corra Linn on folio 12 verso (D26282). Turner visited the waterfalls while staying with John Gibson Lockhart at his baronial residence Milton Lockhart at Rosebank by the River Clyde on 18 September 1834. Lockhart accompanied Turner to Craignethan Castle on the 19th and so may have been with in at the Falls of Clyde the day before.

For references to Turner’s other sketches of the falls, see folio 1 verso.