Junction of Severn and Wye (Liber Studiorum, part VI, plate 28)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

June 1811 · Etching, aquatint 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. This is one of the few instances where Turner also developed the tone, using aquatint and mezzotint to describe a low sun illuminating the confluence of two major rivers. Marking the border of England and Wales, the Wye flows past the ancient town of Chepstow to join the Severn, with their estuary emptying into the Bristol Channel. The letters "EP" in the upper margin likely stand for Elevated Pastoral, and were applied by Turner to landscapes within the set that echo the Arcadian sensibility of Claude.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Date

June 1811

Medium

Etching, aquatint and mezzotint; first state of three

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928