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

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

Joseph Mallord William Turner Lochleven Castle, Loch Leven, Kinross 1834

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Lochleven Castle, Loch Leven, Kinross’ 1834
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 16 Recto:
Lochleven Castle, Loch Leven, Kinross 1834
D26715
Turner Bequest CCLXXII 26a
Pencil on off-white wove paper, 117 x 184 mm
Inscribed in pencil by Turner ‘m’ lower centre
Inscribed in pencil by Edward Croft-Murray ‘16’ top right
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan identified these two sketches as Lochleven Castle, the ruins of which stand on an island in Loch Leven near the town of Kinross.1 Across the top of the page is a view of the island with the castle, from the shore of the loch. Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan believe this to have been made from the north shore. However, the proximity of the island to a promontory to the left and the shape of the hills in the distance make this more likely to be a view from the south, with Kinross to the left and the Ochil Hills in the distance. The larger sketch beneath shows the castle from much closer-to from the south, with the square castle keep and the round Glassin Tower to the right. Beneath the sketch is inscribed the letter ‘M’, which may be a reference to Queen Mary I, who was imprisoned on the island in 1567–8.
For more information about Turner’s visit to Loch Leven and references to his other sketches of the castle, see folio 25 verso (D26708; CCLXXII 23).

Thomas Ardill
October 2010

1
Wallace-Hadrill and Carolan 1990, p.21.

How to cite

Thomas Ardill, ‘Lochleven Castle, Loch Leven, Kinross 1834 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, October 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-lochleven-castle-loch-leven-kinross-r1136397, accessed 23 April 2024.