The Mildmay Sea-Piece (Liber Studiorum, part XIII, plate 40)

Joseph Mallord William Turner|William T. Annis|J. C. Easling|Joseph Mallord William Turner

February 11, 1812 · Etching and mezzotint; third 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. Professional engravers usually developed the tone under Turner's direction, and Annis and Easling here added mezzotint to describe a sun setting over the sea, with barrels piled on the shore near a beached fishing boat. As two sailboats move past, a woman holding a child near an anchor watches a boy running across the sand. The letter "M" in the top margin indicates Turner's category of Marine landscape.

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner|William T. Annis|J. C. Easling|Joseph Mallord William Turner

Date

February 11, 1812

Medium

Etching and mezzotint; third state of four

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Mary W. Tweed, 1925