?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
JOSEPH M. W. TURNER Study of the Sea and Sky.
Mezzotint printed in grayish black on cream wove paper, circa 1825. 190x255 mm; 7 1/2x10 inches, full margins. From the Little Liber Studiorum. A superb, luminous and well-inked impression of this exceedingly scarce print, with crisp plate edges.
Study of the Sea and Sky is part of a series of 12 mezzotints of sea and landscapes created by Joseph M. W. Turner (1775-1851) that have come to be known as the Little Liber Studiorum. The mezzotints are based on original watercolors by Turner. It is traditionally assumed that Turner created these prints himself and used the mezzotint process as it simulated the appearance of watercolor and in recognition of their commercial viability. The 1820 introduction of steel mezzotint plates (as opposed to copper, which produced very limited quality impressions before the plate wore down and required reworking) may have prompted him to make a new series of prints.
The Little Liber Studiorum is considered the unpublished "sequel" to the Liber Studiorum series of 81 prints produced by Charles Turner and other engravers under the direction of J.M.W. Turner. The artist himself produced 11 mezzotints in the first series and they represent the only other group of prints engraved by Turner besides the 12 plates in the Little Liber Studiorum. While the Liber Studiorum encompassed the entire oeuvre of Turner's work by mixing historical, pastoral, architectural and landscape scenes, the Little Liber Studiorum only presents ethereal, atmospheric scenes, representative of the iconic paintings for which he is now famous. As the Little Liber Studiorum was not published or widely distributed, prints from this series are considered extremely scarce. Rawlinson 806.
