Lake of Thun, Swiss (Liber Studiorum, part III, plate 15)

Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
 Engraver Charles Turner British
 Publisher 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 describe a Swiss mountain lake agitated by an approaching storm, with a distant lightning strike causing figures in the foreground to hurry for cover. Mezzotint's capacity to convey the bright flash of light and its reflections on the water is used to great effect and the "M" in the upper margin indicates Turner's category of Marine landscape.

Lake of Thun, Swiss (Liber Studiorum, part III, plate 15), Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London), Etching, drypoint and mezzotint; third state of three

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