Norham Castle on the Tweed, part XII, plate 57 from "Liber Studiorum"
Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
Engraver Charles Turner British
Publisher Joseph Mallord William Turner British
Not on view
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. One of the most satisfying works in the series, it describes the sun rising behind Norham Castle, Northumberland, on the English-Scottish border. Bright openings punctuate the ruined silhouette, with the forms echoed in the river below. In the foreground, two men prepare to launch a skiff near white and brown cows whose forms stand out against the bright water and doubled by reflections. Turner returned to this subject repeatedly during his career and it held deep meaning for him as an expression of the transformative power of light. The letter "P" above the image refers to the artist's category of Pastoral landscape.
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