FAMAG 2006.10.7
Turner, Joseph Mallord William RA (1775-1851): Okehampton, Devonshire, engraver: Willmore, James Tibbitts, publisher: Heath, Charles and Jennings, Robert , inscribed Okehampton in pencil, Line Engraving, Part V, No.2, R226, Image size: 167 x 241mm, Plate mark size: 253 x 317mm, Sheet size: 397 x 549mm.
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Picturesque Views in England and Wales
1825-1838
Turner?s watercolour from which this print was made perfectly captures the morning light of an early autumn day. In the central foreground a huntsman is busy shooting rabbits, a dead one appears near the lower edge whilst another scampers away. When creating a work with the theme of death or decay the artist was wont to include allusive objects or activities. Here the all-too ruined castle and dead trees on the right serve that purpose. However, the flintlock musket?s reloading should allow the second rabbit ample time to make good its escape. Once again the artist's love of visual puns is clearly evident here as the gap between the row of hillside trees is made to repeat that in the castle ruin itself. This drawing is not be confused with another of this subject by Turner entitled ?Okehampton Castle on the river Okement?. Viewed from lower down and from the opposite direction, that work features a rocky riverside with a woodlander felling timer, it was engraved in mezzotint for the ?Rivers of England? series by Charles Turner in 1825 (R758).
The original for this work is located in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia