Print made by Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851, Britishafter Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775–1851, British
Title:
The Deluge
Date:
between 1813 and 1823
Materials & Techniques:
Mezzotint; modern impression on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 11 3/8 × 15 1/4 inches (28.9 × 38.7 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite, lower left: "88"; inscribed on verso in graphite, lower left: "The Deluge | unpublished Liber | Engraved by J.M.W. Turner"; lower center: "Reprint from old Plate | in the 1870s | (from Colnaghi's Stock)"; lower right: "Meatyard Dec. 1923"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.13967
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
cave | cliff | death | dog | horse (animal) | destruction | elephant (animal) | flood | giraffe | lightning | man | praying | rain | religious and mythological subject | storm | the flood and destruction of mankind ~ story of Noah (Genesis 7:10 - 8:17) | tidal wave | tree | water | woman
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Deluge (Yale Center for British Art, 2018-12-18 - 2019-03-24)American Artists Abroad (Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, 1985-06-02 - 1985-09-02)Turner and the Sublime (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-02-11 - 1981-04-19)Turner and the Sublime (British Museum, 1981-05-15 - 1981-09-20)Turner and the Sublime (Art Gallery of Ontario, 1980-11-01 - 1981-01-04)
Publications:
Franny Moyle, Turner : The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner, Penguin Books, New York, 2016, p. 222, NJ18 T85 M79 2016 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
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)