Marine Dabblers, part VI, plate 29 from "Liber Studiorum"
Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
Engraver William Say 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 Say here added mezzotint to describe four boys playing with toy boats at the shore. One vessel founders and, despite the humor, Turner likely intended an echo of the dangers faced by the adult fishermen preparing to set out in the background. The letter "M" in the top margin indicates the artist's category of Marine landscape.
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