East Gate, Winchelsea, Sussex, part XIV, plate 67 from "Liber Studiorum"

East Gate, Winchelsea, Sussex, part XIV, plate 67 from "Liber Studiorum"

Joseph Mallord William Turner

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Turner distilled his ideas about landscape in "Liber Studiorum" (Latin for Book of Studies), a series of seventy prints plus a frontispiece published between 1807 and 1819. To establish the compositions, he made brown watercolor drawings, then etched outlines onto copper plates. Professional engravers usually developed the tone under Turner's direction and Reynolds here added mezzotint to describe sheep being driven through medieval ruins. Established on the Sussex coast by Edward I as a fortified port, Winchelsea had long been separated from the sea, and been abandoned. Sunlit marshland is glimpsed here through the arched gate, with the town's history hinted at by the sailor approaching at left. The picturesque decay and rustic activity led Turner to place the print within his category of Pastoral landscape, indicated by the "P" in the upper margin.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

East Gate, Winchelsea, Sussex, part XIV, plate 67 from "Liber Studiorum"East Gate, Winchelsea, Sussex, part XIV, plate 67 from "Liber Studiorum"East Gate, Winchelsea, Sussex, part XIV, plate 67 from "Liber Studiorum"East Gate, Winchelsea, Sussex, part XIV, plate 67 from "Liber Studiorum"East Gate, Winchelsea, Sussex, part XIV, plate 67 from "Liber Studiorum"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.