Interior of a Church (Liber Studiorum, part XIV, plate 70)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

January 1, 1819 · Etching and mezzotint; first 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. In a few instances he also developed the tone, here using mezzotint to develop interior contrasts of light and shade within a gothic church interior with a preacher standing in a pulpit and worshippers in the pews. Turner added the subject late to the series, mentioning it first in a note made around 1815, and based the composition on a painting he made in the late 1790s (now at Tate Britain). The letter "A" in the upper margin indicates Turner's category of Architectural landscape.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Date

January 1, 1819

Medium

Etching and mezzotint; first state of five (Finberg)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928