London from Greenwich (Liber Studiorum, part V, plate 26)

Joseph Mallord William Turner|Charles Turner|Joseph Mallord William Turner

January 1, 1811 · Etching and mezzotint; first state of four · 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 detail a vista of London from Greenwich Park. The paired cupolas of the Royal Naval College mark the edge of the Thames, which loops west toward the city where the dome of St. Paul's echoes their forms, both great works by Sir Christopher Wren. At the base of the hill, Inigo Jones's elegantly Vitruvian Queen's House, regarded as the first fully classical building in England, introduces Turner's category of Architectural Landscape, indicated by the letter "A" in the upper margin.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner|Charles Turner|Joseph Mallord William Turner

Date

January 1, 1811

Medium

Etching and mezzotint; first state of four

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928