Mêr de Glace, Valley of Chamouni-Savoy (Liber Studiorum, part X, plate 50)
Joseph Mallord William Turner
May 23, 1812 · Etching and mezzotint; fifth 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. This is one of the few instances where he made the preliminary etched lines, then developed the tone, using mezzotint to detail an image of glacier developed from sketches made in Switzerland near the St. Gothard pass. Working experimentally, he rocked only part of the plate to create the darks, rather than following conventional mezzotint practice, where the plate is rocked completely, and highlights creates by scraping and burnishing. The "M" in the upper margin refers to Turner's category of Mountainous landscape.
- Artist
- Joseph Mallord William Turner
- Date
- May 23, 1812
- Medium
- Etching and mezzotint; fifth state of five (Finberg)
- Department
- Drawings and Prints
- Credit line
- Gift of Edwin De T. Bechtel, 1951
