Chain of Alps from Grenoble to Chamberi

J. M. W. Turner

Etching and mezzotint printed in brown ink

Tate Britain

This print, plate 49 of J. M. W. Turner's celebrated Liber Studiorum series, depicts a sweeping panoramic vista of the Alpine landscape between Grenoble and Chambéri, drawn from sketches Turner made during his 1802 European tour. An aerial perspective opens onto an expansive valley plain flanked by the Chartreuse mountains to the left and the Vercors massif to the right, with strong shafts of sunlight breaking through clouds and descending in dramatic beams to the valley floor below. Turner etched the plate himself and William Say developed the tonal mezzotint, combining techniques that produce the characteristic warm, sepia-toned chiaroscuro of the series, while foreground figures of peasants animate the Romantic, Sublime atmosphere. Categorised under Turner's 'Mountainous' landscape designation, the plate exemplifies the Romantic engagement with the grandeur and vastness of Alpine scenery that defined Turner's early career and his ambitions for printmaking as a vehicle for wide artistic dissemination.