Joseph Mallord William Turner

Turner’s watercolor practice was closely related to printmaking, and a large portion of his designs were eventually engraved for various publications. This watercolor was one of 40 designs intended to illustrate the published volumes of Sir Walter Scott's Prose Works, Tales of a Grandfather, 1834. Literary illustration afforded Turner the luxury of experimenting with dramatic landscape. He set out to represent not only the districts and places described in Scott's text, but also the mood of the tales.