The Bridge in Middle Distance - YCBA Collections Search

Etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851, British, The Bridge in Middle Distance, 1808

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Creator:

Etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851
Engraved by Charles Turner, 1774–1857
after Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851

Title:

The Bridge in Middle Distance

Additional Title(s):

The Sun between Trees

Part Of:

Collective Title: Liber Studiorum

Date:

1808

Materials & Techniques:

Etching and mezzotint, printed in brown ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper

Dimensions:

Sheet: 10 3/8 × 14 3/4 inches (26.4 × 37.5 cm), Plate: 8 1/4 × 11 3/8 inches (21 × 28.9 cm), Image: 7 1/8 × 10 3/8 inches (18.1 × 26.4 cm)

Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in graphite, lower right: "13.I"; lower right: "Dup. I."; inscribed on verso in graphite, lower left: "13.I | (C.J.Palmer 1868) | (Sir John Hippisley)"; lower right: "Cotswold Gallery, 1924, ex G.E.Blood, CJ Palmer & Sir John Hippisley"

Collector’s mark: John Stuart Hippisley (Lugt 1535); collector's mark: Charles J. Palmer (Lugt 2946); collector's mark: G. E. Blood (Lugt 265c)

Lettered above image: "EP"; below image: "Drawn & Etchd by J.M.W.Turner Esqr. R.A.P.P. | Engraved by Chas.Turner | London, Published June 10, 1808, by C.Turner, No.50 Warren Street, Fitzroy Square."; scratched lettering lower left: "Proof"

Credit Line:

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Copyright Status:

Public Domain

Accession Number:

B1977.14.8114

Classification:

Prints

Collection:

Prints and Drawings

Subject Terms:

Access:

Accessible in the Study Room [Request]

Link:

https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:26137

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According to Turner, all landscapes belong to one of six fundamental categories: Architectural, Historical, Marine, Mountainous, Pastoral, and Elevated Pastoral. These prints are part of a systematic publication, the Liber Studiorum (“Book of Studies”), containing examples from each of these categories. This work provides further testimony to the enduring influence of Claude Lorrain. Claude made sepia ink and wash drawings to record all his authentic compositions and brought them together to form his celebrated Liber Veritatis (“Book of Truth”). These drawings came to be seen as the epitome of the art of landscape and were later reproduced as fine mezzotints. They inspired Turner to make his own, even more ambitious equivalents. Though imitating the format and sepia coloring of Claude’s drawings, Turner’s plates were intended not as a record of his paintings but to illustrate his own original theory of landscape art. Although never completely finished, the Liber Studiorum is among the artist’s most personal and pioneering contributions to the practice of printmaking.

Gallery label for J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality (Yale Center for British Art, March - 29, 2025 - July 27, 2025)

Classic Ground - British Artists and the Landscape of Italy, 1740-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-07-29 - 1981-09-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Duncan Bull, Classic ground : British artists and the landscape of Italy, 1740-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1981, pp. 7, 20, 26, no. 7, ND1354.4 B85 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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