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Print made by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851, British, Entrance of Calais Harbour, 1816
- Title:
- Entrance of Calais Harbour
- Part Of:
- Date:
- 1816
- Materials & Techniques:
- Etching and mezzotint, printed in brown ink on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 11 × 16 inches (27.9 × 40.6 cm), Plate: 8 1/2 × 12 inches (21.6 × 30.5 cm), Image: 7 × 10 1/2 inches (17.8 × 26.7 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite, lower left: "55"; lower right: "4th State"; inscribed on verso in graphite, upper left: "bet 3+4 55 | L 3+"; lower left: "2/2/"; lower right: "4th State | Hampstead 1922"
Watermark: PIM | (heart) RICHARD
Lettered above image: "M"; below image: "Drawn Etched & Engraved by I.M.W.Turner. R.A. | ENTRANCE OF CALAIS HARBOUR. | Published Jany.1, 1816 by Mr.Turner, Queen Ann Street West"; in scratched lettering, lower left: "11"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1977.14.13987
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- channel (water body component) | marine art
- Associated Places:
- Calais | Dover, Strait of | English Channel | France
- Access:
- Accessible in the Study Room [Request]
- Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:38770
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
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)
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