Between 1806 and 1819 Turner was working on a set of images for a publication known as the Liber Studiorum (Book of Studies). The series, based on Claude Lorrain’s famous Liber Veritatis (Book of Truth), consisted of seventy-one prints in brown ink, after watercolours by Turner. Shown here are three of the watercolours, and one of the prints from the project.
Turner’s intention was to promote landscape art in its various manifestations and he devoted an entire category to ‘Marine Landscape’. Some of the seascapes were entirely new designs; others were based on existing compositions.
Gallery label, April 2005