Bridge and Cows, part I, plate 2 from "Liber Studiorum"

Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
Engraver Charles Turner British
Publisher Joseph Mallord William Turner British

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Turner distilled his ideas about 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 cows standing in a shallow water near a rustic wooden bridge, with trees shading the scene and two pairs of figures on the bank. The print demonstrates Turner's mastery of eighteenth-century picturesque and interest in Gainsborough's soft-ground etchings, with the "P" in the upper margin indicating the category of Pastoral landscape.

Bridge and Cows, part I, plate 2 from "Liber Studiorum", Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London), Etching and mezzotint; second state of five (Finberg)

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