Frank Short Turner “Rhrenbreitstein to Coblenz” Mezzotint


Joseph Mallord William Turner RA (April 23, 1775 — December 19, 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, water colorist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivaling history painting.


Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British watercolor landscape painting. He is commonly known as “the painter of light” and his work regarded as a Romantic preface to impressionism.


Frank Short (1857—1945) had a major influence on his contemporaries and pupils at the Royal College of Art. His pupils there included Martin Hardie, etcher, watercolorist, author and scholar. Short revived the techniques of mezzotint and aquatint; he had a wide knowledge and skill in print-making and was largely responsible for the technical excellence of British print-making between the first and second world wars.

Short’s atmospheric Nocturnes are the most obvious example of Whistler’s influence on Short. Short worked with Whistler occasionally on printing his copperplates. Whistler, in his turn, respected him as a print-maker.
His collection included proofs by Haden, Whistler, Legros, and Samuel Palmer.


“Rhrenbreitstein” (after the watercolor by J.W.M. Turner). Mezzotint engraved by Frank Short. The Image measures 10.50 by 7 inches; plate-mark is printed on Vellum Parchment wove paper. Published in the Portfolio. London, 1891.


This is in good condition with little foxed spots outside of the engraved work.