Ville de Thun, Switzerland, part XII, plate 59 from "Liber Studiorum"

Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
 Engraver Thomas Hodgetts British
 Publisher Joseph Mallord William 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 Hodgetts here added mezzotint to describe a a peaceful Swiss lakeside town distinguished by towered buildings on a hill, and a view of distant snowcapped alps. Close at hand, figures wait on a pier for an approaching boat, and Turner applied the letter "A" in the upper margin to indicate his category of Architectural landscape.

Ville de Thun, Switzerland, part XII, plate 59 from "Liber Studiorum", Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London), Etching and mezzotint; first state of three

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.