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 the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle, overlooking the Northumbrian coast. Close to the water, light shines from a cottage window, and the letter "A" in the upper margin indicates Turner's category of Architectural landscape.
Credit: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
June 10, 1808
Etching, aquatint and mezzotint; first state
18.3 x 26.7cm
28.97.14
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection