18. Sir Frank Short (1857-1945)
after J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851)

Lucerne (Moonlight on a River)

(click on image to print)
Lucerne

Lucerne (Moonlight on a River)

Mezzotint, 1896, 214 x 284 mm., Hardie 42 published state. Fine impression in brown on chine-appliqué with large, full margins, signed in pencil and with the blindstamp of Robert Dunthorne, the publisher. The subject is taken from a slight sketch by Turner, intended for the Liber Studiorum but never engraved before Short did it. The original drawing is in the Vaughan Bequest in the National Gallery, London. Lucerne, with its old tower and bridge and Mount Pilatus is still one of the most picturesque of Swiss cities. Short’s print, in pure mezzotint with no prior etching, makes the sketchiness of the original drawing into a virtue, producing an impressionistic moonlit scene without any but the most necessary detail.