Martello Towers near Bexhill, Sussex (Liber Studiorum, part VII, plate 34)

Joseph Mallord William Turner

1811 · Etching only; before first state of four · 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. Here we see his preliminary work on a plate that William Say later completed using mezzotint. Along a stretch of England's south coast, a road below cliffs recedes toward forts built to defend against a feared Napoleonic invasion. In the foreground a man and woman lead a donkey loaded with panniers and a child, as two hussars follow on horseback. Published states of this print include the letter "M" in the upper margin to indicate Turner's category of Marine landscape.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Date

1811

Medium

Etching only; before first state of four

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

H.O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1929