Download/Print Selected Image
Copy Caption to clipboard
Etched by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851, British, Pembury Mill, Kent, 1808
- Title:
- Pembury Mill, Kent
- Part Of:
- Date:
- 1808
- Materials & Techniques:
- Etching and mezzotint, printed in brown ink; engraver's proof (b) on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 10 7/8 × 15 1/8 inches (27.6 × 38.4 cm), Plate: 8 1/4 × 11 1/2 inches (21 × 29.2 cm), Image: 7 1/8 × 10 3/8 inches (18.1 × 26.4 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite, upper center: "No. 43"; lower center: "Pembury Mill Kent | 17"; lower right: "Turner"; inscribed on mount: "12. Pembury Mill. Engraver's Proof (b). Ex Mes. S.Barnes and Stokes and Charles Turner's collns. (Not mentioned in Finberg's catalogue | Title in Pencil written by Turner. Signed in margin by Charles Turner"
Collector's mark: Charles Turner (Lugt 2409); collector's mark: Charles Stokes (Lugt 2758); collector’s mark: Mary Constance Clarke (Lugt 449)
Lettered above image: "P"; below image: "Drawn & Etchd by J.M.W.Turner Esqr. R.A.P.P. | Engraved by Chas.Turner | London, Published May 29, 1808, by C.Turner, No.50 Warren Street, Fitzroy Square."
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1977.14.8113
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Access:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:26136
- 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)
If you have information about this object that may be of assistance please contact us.