Mêr de Glace, Valley of Chamouni-Savoy (Liber Studiorum, part X, plate 50)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

May 23, 1812 · Etching and mezzotint; third state of five (Finberg) · 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, here using mezzotint to detail an image of glacier developed from sketches made in Switzerland near the St. Gothard pass. Working experimentally, he rocked only part of the plate to create the darks, rather than following conventional mezzotint practice, where the plate is rocked completely, and highlights creates by scraping and burnishing. The "M" in the upper margin refers to Turner's category of Mountainous landscape.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Date

May 23, 1812

Medium

Etching and mezzotint; third state of five (Finberg)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928