Apuleia in Search of Apuleius (unpublished plate, Liber Studiorum)
This is Turner's etched first stage of work on a print he intended to include in the series "Liber Studiorum" (Latin for Book of Studies), but never published. The composition derives from a premium-winning painting shown at the British Institution in 1814, now at the National Gallery, London. In the foreground, Apuleia, a figure Turner invented as the wife for a shepherd mentioned in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," unveils herself to a group of shepherdesses. The landscape is enlivened by a multi-arched classical bridge that spans a river near a temple, and the composition embodies Arcadian qualities associated with Claude. The finished plate was sold in 1873 with other unpublished Liber compositions, and subsequently printed and circulated.
Artwork Details
- Title: Apuleia in Search of Apuleius (unpublished plate, Liber Studiorum)
- Artist: Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London)
- Date: 1813–23
- Medium: Etching
- Dimensions: plate: 7 1/4 x 10 1/2 in. (18.4 x 26.7 cm)
sheet: 8 3/16 x 11 3/8 in. (20.8 x 28.9 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Theodore De Witt, 1917
- Object Number: 17.22.20
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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