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CHAPTER XI

THE LINE ENGRAVERS AFTER TURNER


Turner's influence on engraving—The school of engravers who worked under his supervision—Illustrated volumes with engravings after his drawings—Line engravings after his pictures.


With Dürer, with Raphael, with Rubens, and with Claude Lorraine the name of Turner stands among the painters who had a special influence upon engraving. He pitted himself against Claude and produced his Liber Studiorum in direct emulation of his rival's Liber Veritatis; and Turner had the advantage on more than one head, not the least being that whereas Claude, who died in 1682, was interpreted by Richard Earlom (1740-1822), who executed his plates in mezzotint a century after the painter was dead, Turner etched the leading lines of a few plates himself and supervised the engravers who worked upon them in mezzotint. Claude's original sketches for his Liber are at Chatsworth, and Turner's first drawings in sepia are in the basement of the National Gallery.

Turner's Liber Studiorum was begun in 1807 and