The Castle above the Meadows (Liber Studiorum, part II, plate 8)
Medium
Etching; before first state of four
Dimensions
plate: 7 x 10 1/4 in. (17.8 x 26 cm) sheet: 8 1/16 x 11 3/8 in. (20.5 x 28.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Theodore De Witt, 1917
Accession Number
17.22.21
Tags
Art Historical Context
Joseph Mallord William Turner, the preeminent British Romantic landscape artist, created *The Castle above the Meadows in 1808 as Plate 8 from Part II of his ambitious *Liber Studiorum series. Launched in 1807 and continuing until 1819, collection of 71 etched and mezzotint landscapes drew inspiration from the 17th-century French artist Claude Lorrain'sLiber Veritatis*. Turner categorized his prints into poetic themes—such as mountainous, pastoral, and architectural—to demonstrate the full range of landscape possibilities, blending observation with imaginative grandeur. This early work exempli...
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...