William Turner of Oxford came of age alongside the flourishing of the Golden Age of British Watercolour. Sixteen years old when the Society of Painters in Watercolours was founded, he was a pupil of John Varley (1778-1842), one of its leading proponents. Throughout the 18th century, watercolour had been seen as a medium secondary to oils, primarily used for topographical surveys, and later for landscape views. The Society created a market for watercolour as a great medium in its own right. While historical or literary subjects had been seen as the most serious and morally elevating, there was a widespread and growing appreciation of nature as a source of moral values. Burke’s ideas of the ‘Sublime’ (published in 1757) were significant, as wild landscapes and natural phenomena were often the source of sublime emotion. The cult of the Picturesque developed out of this late in the century, increasing the importance of landscape subjects in art, and the immediacy of watercolour and its suitability for use outdoors, working directly from the landscape, raised its importance.
It was in this context that Turner took his early instruction, and his interest in both the picturesque and the sublime would stay with him throughout his career. He was particularly interested in the overlap of man and landscape, often seeking out landscapes changed in some way by man in the wake of the industrial revolution and the increase in farming.
The later part of Turner’s career was shaped by his 1838 tour of the Highlands, increasingly moving away from landscapes inhabited by man and turning to those more isolated and ‘natural’. Although he only made one Scottish tour, he would return to Scottish subjects for the rest of his career. His tour was extensive, taking in the well-known sites of contemporary guide books, but also going beyond those, to wilder, more remote locations. He travelled through Loch Torridon on the way to Skye (see lot 10).
The present drawing with its titular and visible focus on light, is an exceptional example of Turner’s fascination with atmospheric effects. Shafts of sunlight pierce the sky and reflect across the surface of the loch. The vast emptiness of the landscape is emphasised by the wide format of the sheet and the peacefully resting single stag to the foreground, undisturbed by human presence.