Description
Rugged cliffs rise beside an Alpine passage in Turner’s Mount St. Gothard. A massive rock face occupies the left, with small people and laden animals near the lower center and snowy peaks beyond. The travelers’ modest scale makes the terrain imposing, while the brighter clouds give the distant mountains an opening beyond the close, difficult ground.
Published on February 20, 1808, the work combines etching and mezzotint. J. M. W. Turner designed and etched the composition, while Charles Turner engraved and published it; this impression is the first of six states. The print brings the mountain subject into a tonal medium that can distinguish mass from open space. Its interest lies in making terrain a complete pictorial subject, allowing natural forms to provide both the setting and the principal presence of the image.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the J. M. W. Turner collection.
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