The Source of the Arvaron in the Valley of Chamouni, Savoy (Liber Studiorum, part XII, plate 60)

Henry Edward Dawe|Joseph Mallord William Turner|Joseph Mallord William Turner

January 1, 1816 · 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 and here, unusually, entrusted the preliminary etching to Dawe before applying mezzotint himself to develop tone. Based on sketches made during Turner's 1802 Swiss tour, the image represents a glacier fronted by pines and bolders, with slopes behind plunging towards a sunlit valley and a chain of snow capped peaks. Turner likely intended the composition to pair with "Mill Near the Grand Chartreuse" (no. 54), and applied the letter "M" in the upper margin to indicate his category of Mountainous landscape.

Artist

Henry Edward Dawe|Joseph Mallord William Turner|Joseph Mallord William Turner

Date

January 1, 1816

Medium

Etching and mezzotint; first state of three

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928