The Castle above the Meadows, part II, plate 8 from "Liber Studiorum"

Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
 Engraved and published by Charles 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 to detail peaceful meadows near a ruined castle on a rocky hill, with the foreground enlivened by boy piping near cows. Published states of the print include the letters "EP" in the upper margin, applied by Turner to landscapes within the set that echo the Arcadian sensibility of Claude and likely standing for Elevated Pastoral, but they are lacking from this first state.

The Castle above the Meadows, part II, plate 8 from "Liber Studiorum", Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London), Etching and mezzotint; first state of four

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