By Kind Permission of a Private Collection
By Kind Permission of a Private Collection
Drawn, etched, and engraved in mezzotint by Turner. Dated 1812 and published in Part 10 of the Liber Studiorum ( Finberg 50). Category: Mountainous. See Forrester, p.112.
Ruskin reproduced part of this plate in Modern Painters IV (Plate 32) to illustrate the 'flaky character' of aiguilles ( Works, 6.237). An impression of the plate was included in the Oxford Rudimentary Series and Ruskin's catalogue (1878) remarks how 'Turner sketched it with extreme rapidity and far less than his usual accuracy, addressing himself only to show the reason of the name in the mass of ice arising like a crested breaker on the left' ( Works, 21.222).
J.M.W. Turner 1775-1851
Mer de Glace c.1812
Etching and mezzotint, printed in brown inks on wove paper, 17.8x25.7cm
Engraving:
Engraved by J.M.W.Turner, c.1812
Mezzotint engraving, 18x26cm
Engraved for the Liber Studiorum, part 10
Provenance: …; A.A. Allen, who presented it through the National Art Collections Fund, 1925
Further Comments: No preliminary drawing for this subject is known of. It is thought that as the design is simple, etching and engraving would have been done directly from the 'St. Gothard and Mount Blanc' sketchbook. Also, the details given in place of those for the original drawing are for the first published state of the Mer de Glace, in the Liber Studiorum.
Collection: Tate Gallery, London