Rispah, 2nd Book of Samuel, Chapter 21 (Liber Studiorum, part IX, plate 46)
Joseph Mallord William Turner|Robert Dunkarton|Joseph Mallord William Turner
May 23, 1812 · Etching and mezzotint; fourth 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 Dunkarton here added mezzotint to describe a gruesome Old Testament subject. After the death of King Saul, his sons by his concubine Rizpah were executed by the Gibeonites, and left unburied. Their mother here protects the corpses, using a torch to ward off an approaching lion at night. The letter "H" in upper margin indicates Turner's category of Historical landscape.
- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner|Robert Dunkarton|Joseph Mallord William Turner
- Date
- May 23, 1812
- Medium
- Etching and mezzotint; fourth state of four
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Gift of Edwin De T. Bechtel, 1951
