Studio: international art (10.1897)

Additions to the "Liber Stitdorii/m"

night against a granite coast—his body and out-
stretched hands just seen in the trough of a moun-
tain wave, between it and the overhanging wall of
rock, hollow, polished and pale, with dreadful cloud
and grasping foam."

The Stork and Aqueduct is a wonderful composi-
tion of rock, high bridge, trees, and mountain
stream, sometimes supposed to be a view of Ruabon
aqueduct, and it is a magnificent composition both
as regards line and tone. The etching of this plate,
Mr. Ruskin considers, is the finest in the book.
The plate of this subject was found after Turner's
death, but the proofs taken from it were very poor,
owing to deterioration of the plate. It served to
show, however, what form the plate had taken,
and, as an original early working proof of the
plate is in existence, Mr. Short has been able to re-
construct it from the two states.

The picture from which the drawing for the King-
ston Bank was taken is now in the National Gallery,
and it is interesting as being a quiet, homely sub-
ject for Turner. This picture is said to have been
a favourite with David Cox, who saw it on the easel
in Turner's studio. The sky, however, appears to
have faded a good deal, and that in Turner's " Liber"
drawing is quite different.

The Falls of the Rhine was a favourite subject
with the painter, and he made many wonderful
drawings at this place.

Of the first seven plates the original drawings
are in the possession of Mr. Henry Vaughan, the
connoisseur and collector, to whom the Print
Room set of the "Liber" is so much indebted.
Mr. Vaughan's collection is one of the choicest, and
probably no one has a more intimate acquaintance
with Turner's great work than he, and Mr. Short
told me that he is greatly indebted to Mr.
Vaughan for allowing him access to his collec-
tion.

The drawing for No. 8 belongs to Sir Charles
Robinson ; the Pastoral is in the National Gallery;
Nos. 10 and n are in the Print Room of the
British Museum.

No. 6 was commenced in mezzotint by Turner,
but the plate left by him was too damaged to yield
any impression. Of No. 7, Mr. Vaughan possesses
two proofs of the plate as commenced by Turner.
Of Nos. 10 and 15, etchings of the original plates
only are known; and of Nos. 12, 13, and 14, two
or three impressions of each original plate have
come down to us, but the plates themselves no
longer exist. Eleven of the plates done by Mr.
Short are practically engraved for the first time,
for of the Needles only two impressions of the

original plate are known, and the other ten (save
for the etching Pan and Syrinx) were never en-
graved, or at all events, no records exist if they
were.

Turner's " Liber Studiorum " was suggested by
Claude's "Liber Veritatis," which had been issued
some thirty years earlier by the Boydells, en-
graved by Richard Earlom; but if we place
Turner's work beside Claude's it makes the latter's
book appear thin and monotonous. It must be
remembered, however, that Claude's sketches
were rough pen and-ink jottings washed with
bistre, and were more a catalogue raisonnc than a
serious undertaking. Turner on the other hand
made, as we know, most careful drawings in out-
line washed with sepia, and those plates issued by
him were in the majority of instances etched by
him, and in several cases engraved as well; and
it would appear to have been Turner's intention
to have engraved a good many more of the plates
throughout. Apart from this he carefully in-
structed the engravers he employed how to produce
the effects he desired, and during the printing of
the plates was constantly in Lahee's office; and
when the plates began to wear Turner touched on
them, and in some cases worked them. The skill
with which Turner was able to touch on proofs is
amply illustrated in the working proofs of engrav-
ings after him preserved in the Print Room.

The whole field of the landscape painter's art
was covered by Turner, and hence, in looking
through the " Liber," two things impress one, the
variety of subject and the wonderful skill shown
in the design and chiaroscuro. The engraving
of the plates, too, has never been surpassed,
and it seems impossible to imagine anything
finer than the Sohvay Moss, Winchclsea, Ben
Arthur, and The Source of the Averon. This last
was mezzotinted by Turner over the etching by
another hand, and is evidence of the skill he
quickly acquired in engraving in mezzotint. Eleven
out of the 71 plates were by the painter, and of
the one just mentioned Ruskin wrote to Frank
Short—" the main glory of the plate is the redemp-
tion of the bad etching by the engraving."

From the brief sketch I have given of the history
of the " Liber Studiorum," it will be seen that Mr.
Frank Short had need of all his courage to attack
such an undertaking, seeing the very high standard
Turner set to all who should come after him ; and
when we consider that he had the pick of the
engravers of the early part of the century, Charles
Turner, Say, Lupton and others, who had inherited
the traditions of that most glorious period of

229