Little Devil's Bridge over the Russ, above Altdorft, Switzerland (Liber Studiorum, part IV, plate 19)

Joseph Mallord William Turner|Charles Turner

March 29, 1809 · Etching and mezzotint; first state of three · Drawings and Prints

Turner distilled his ideas about landscape In "Liber Studiorum" (Latin for Book of Studies), a series of seventy prints plus a frontispiece published between 1807 and 1819. To establish the compositions, he made brown watercolor drawings, then etched outlines onto copper plates. Professional engravers usually developed the tone under Turner's direction, and Charles Turner here added mezzotint to describe a narrow, arched bridge spanning a steep Swiss mountain gorge, with the rushing water of the Reuss river indicated by slanting rays illuminating rising mist. We view the plunging perspective from a precarious ledge scattered with bones and stripped trees, a living presence introduced by two birds at right. The letters "Ms" in the upper margin indicate Turner's category of Mountainous landscape.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner|Charles Turner

Date

March 29, 1809

Medium

Etching and mezzotint; first state of three

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928