From Spenser's Fairy Queen, part VII, plate 36 from "Liber Studiorum"

Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
 Engraver Thomas Hodgetts 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 Hodgetts here added mezzotint to detail a subject inspired by Spenser's epic poem "The Faerie Queene" (1590-96). An armored figure, whose shield identifies him as the Redcrosse Knight, sits dejecteded on a rocky mountainside ledge near blasted trees. The image likely relates to lines in Book I where the knight succumbs briefly to the influence of Despayre (Despair) after being abandoned by a companion. The letter "H" in the upper margin places the work within Turner's category of Historical landscape, and the dark moody vista echoes Salvator Rosa.

From Spenser's Fairy Queen, part VII, plate 36 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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