JMW Turner (William Turner)

'Pilgrims at the Sacred Fair of Hurdwar' Medium: Line Engraving on Paper Size: 4 7/8 n x 7 7/16 Joseph Mallord William Turner was the most prolific painter, printmaker and watercolourist England ever produced. He was a master landscape painter. Regarded as a national treasure, and described as the artist who could most stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of nature, Turner had unparalleled artistic talent. But very few know he was an eminent printmaker as well. ⠀⠀⠀⠀ For the book “Views in India Chiefly among the Himalaya Mountains” ( 1836-1837) by Lieut. George Francis White, Turner produced seven plates, the present engraving being one of them. Turner used sketches made by White to make his watercolours designs, which were later engraved by Thomas Higham. It is worth noting that Turner had never visited India.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ “Part of the Ghaut at Hurdwar” was the original title of the present engraving work selected for the 1836 book, but the same was later changed to ‘Pilgrims at the Sacred Fair of Hurdwar’, when it was reprinted in ‘Hindostan, the Shores of the Red Sea and the Himalaya Mountains’ in 1845. A comparable of the present Engraving by Turner is in Tate, London.⠀⠀