Watercress Gatherers, plate 62 from Liber Studiorum
published January 1, 1819
Medium
Mezzotint and etching in brown on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 18.5 × 26.5 cm (7 5/16 × 10 7/16 in.); Plate: 21.8 × 28.9 cm (8 5/8 × 11 7/16 in.); Sheet: 29.8 × 43.5 cm (11 3/4 × 17 3/16 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
71730
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
J. M. W. Turner is known primarily as a painter, but demonstrated his passion for landscape through printmaking in this mezzotint, which comes from a series of 71 prints called Liber Studiorum (Book of Studies). Turner categorized the types of landscape with a lettering system at the top of each sheet: A (Architectural), H (Historical), M (Marine or Mountainous), P (Pastoral), and the more obscure EP (Epic Pastoral). The play of light and shade on the water, mountains, fields, and distant views ...
About the Artist
Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1775–1851
Joseph Mallord William Turner, born on 23 April 1775 in London's Covent Garden to barber William Turner and Mary Marshall, emerged as a child prodigy amid personal hardships. His mother suffered mental illness and died in Bethlem Hospital in 1804, while his father supported his early sketches by displaying them in his shop. Around age 10, Turner stayed with his uncle Joseph Mallord William Marshal...