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

This is the first in a sequence of four pages filled with sketches of mountain scenery that have generally been overlooked by scholars: folios 35–36 verso (D26327–D26330).1 They follow two sketches made at the town of Callander (folio 34 verso; D26326) and the sketch at the top of the page may depict Callander Bridge, as seen from the northern end. This sketch, or the one beneath, is labelled ‘from the in[n]’, suggesting that one of these sketches was made from the window of the inn where Turner was staying. The second sketch is probably a view east from Callander with the hills to the north of the town. At the bottom of this are two sketches of mountain scenery that may show the view to the south.

The third sketch down, inscribed ‘b/x’ at the bottom right, looks in the opposite direction to Ben Ledi as in a sketch opposite on folio 34 verso. A series of sketches in the Loch Ard sketchbook reveal that Turner made an excursion towards Ben Ledi along the Pass of Leny: see Tate D26741 (Turner Bequest CCLXXII 39a). Some of the sketches of mountain scenes that follow in the present book may also have been made during this excursion, though some bear a resemblance to views around Loch Ard, meaning that the identification of those sketches are uncertain.