Berry Pomeroy Castle, part XII, plate 58 from "Liber Studiorum"
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, and here Dawe is believed to have etched the design onto a copper plate, with Turner adding mezzotint to develop the tone. A wooded landscape is punctuated by the towers of a ruined castle, traditionally identified as Berry Pomeroy Castle in Devon, but possibly Raglan in Wales. An overgrown moat is spanned by a small wooden bridge, and a moor hen skims the water to create a bright reflective trail. The letters "EP" in the upper margin likely stand for Elevated Pastoral and were applied by Turner to landscapes within the set that echo the Arcadian sensibility of Claude.
Artwork Details
- Title: Berry Pomeroy Castle, part XII, plate 58 from "Liber Studiorum"
- Series/Portfolio: Liber Studiorum
- Artist: Designed and engraved by Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London)
- Etcher: Probably etched by Henry Edward Dawe (British, London 1790–1848 Windsor)
- Publisher: Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, London 1775–1851 London)
- Date: January 1, 1816
- Medium: Etching and mezzotint; first state of three (Finberg)
- Dimensions: plate: 7 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. (19.7 x 27.3 cm)
sheet: 8 7/16 x 11 1/4 in. (21.4 x 28.6 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
- Object Number: 28.97.58
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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