Scene on the French Coast (Liber Studiorum, part I, plate 4)
Designed and etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner British
Engraver Charles Turner 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 Charles Turner here added mezzotint to describe a vessel being unloaded on a wide beach whose end is guarded by a castle. The artist's working title was "French Coast," and he seems to have avoided specifying a particular location, but likely intended the men who load goods onto horses in the foreground to represent smugglers. The "M" in the top margin indicates Turner's category of Marine landscape.
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