Aesacus and Hesperié

Technically speaking, J.M.W. Turner’s Liber Studiorum is not a collection of reproductive prints. Although made after drawings by Turner, the images were always intended as prints, with the drawings serving a preparatory role. Furthermore, Turner himself had a hand in the printmaking process, for the most part etching the defining lines of the composition and relying on skilled printmakers for the remainder, especially the aquatint and mezzotint that provided the shade and subtleties of tone. Although Turner hired expert engravers, he remained intensely involved, supervising proofs and requesting constant revisions. For that reason, there is little discernible difference in the techniques of his engravers, despite the adaptability of the mezzotint rocker.

Turner shrewdly recognized that an artist’s genius was established in large part through the reproduction of his work, and he therefore wished to retain as much control as possible over that process. He wanted his Liber Studiorum to be found on the shelf next to Earlom’s Liber Veritatis, allowing the library to assume the role of the collector’s cabinet in the development of English taste.