The Castle above the Meadows (Liber Studiorum, part II, plate 8)

Joseph Mallord William Turner|Charles Turner

1808 · Etching and mezzotint; engravers proof b, before first state of four (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. Professional engravers usually developed the tone under Turner's direction, and Charles Turner here added mezzotint to detail peaceful meadows near a ruined castle on a rocky hill, with the foreground enlivened by boy piping near cows. Published states of the print include the letters "EP" in the upper margin, applied by Turner to landscapes within the set that echo the Arcadian sensibility of Claude and likely standing for Elevated Pastoral. They have not yet been added to this early engraver's proof.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner|Charles Turner

Date

1808

Medium

Etching and mezzotint; engravers proof b, before first state of four (Finberg)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Theodore De Witt, 1923