Description
The Redcrosse Knight from Spenser’s Faerie Queene sits on a rocky mountainside ledge near blasted trees, identified by his shield. J. M. W. Turner gives the literary subject an isolated setting whose rough forms deepen the figure’s dejected presence. The rocky edge makes the knight small within the landscape, connecting a human predicament with the larger atmosphere of the scene.
Issued in 1811 for Liber Studiorum, the etching and mezzotint was designed and etched by J. M. W. Turner, with Thomas Hodgetts developing the tonal engraving. The subject likely concerns the knight’s encounter with Despair, though the scene’s force also lies in its visual solitude. Dark terrain and damaged trees give the seated figure an expressive setting without requiring the entire poem’s narrative to be shown.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the J. M. W. Turner collection.
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