YCBA Collections Search

Inscribed in graphite, upper right: "1852"

Lettered, upper center: "Will be published shortly, | THE PROOF IMPRESSIONS OF A FAC-SIMILE IN COLOUR OF THE CELEBRATED PICTURE | THE BLUE LIGHTS, | BY THE LATE | J. M. W. TURNER, ESQ. R. A. | The size of the Print is 22 by 30, on paper 30 by 44, and it will be executed | FAC-SIMILE IN COLOUR OF THE PICTURE, | BY ROBERT CARRICK, ESQ."; lettered, center: "THIS Painting is considered one of the grandest of Turner's conceptions, and the fac-simile now | announced, on account of its extraordinary artistic merit, and from its realising the picture in colour, | has caused the greatest sensation amongst artists of the highest eminence and the judges of art | generally. | The peculiar attraction of this Print over engravings of every other class is that it renders the | picture touch for touch, colour for colour, mind for mind. To produce a black-and-white engraving, | whether line-engraving or mezzotint, a translation has to be gone through from colour to black and | white, and the artist's effect and colour have to be adapted to the new medium through which they | have to be seen. Not so with the fac-simile of "The Blue Lights;" as Turner thought in colour, so | he is here rendered in the same language. | At this moment it is anticipated that this fac-simile of one of the best works of the greatest | English landscape-painter that ever lived will be received with unusual satisfaction, as it will enable | all who may desire it to relise thoroughly the wonderful talents of the painter. | OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. | In reading these notices it must be borne in mind that an actual, and not an anticipated, result is spoken of."; lettered, lower left: "From the ATHENAEUM. | Messrs. Day and Sons have on view a fac-simile in colour of | one of Turner's last great works, "Blue Lights at Sea,"--a pic- | ture of the year 1840, and marvellous for the poetry of effect | and its wild adherance to what is grand and beautiful in nature. | The fac-simile is by Mr. Robert Carrick, and is obtained by | thirteen separate printings; the first printing, containing the | outline or groundwork, being, as was the case with all Turner's | works, of the slightest possible description. The Messrs. Day | are justly proud of this new triumph of the printer's art, and | fearlessly hang the fac-simile by the side of the original, that | the spectator may judge, for himself of its spirit and fidelity. | Something has, of course, evaporated in the printer's hands,-- | but the general and in parts minute resemblances to the better | qualities of the picture are many and good. | From the ART-JOURNAL. | It would seem almost an absurdity that any copy of Turner's | extraordinary combination of form and colour could be produced | by mere mechanical processes, so to speak, with even the least | approach to accuracy; and yet this had been done with une | quivocal success by Mr. Carrick, of the New Water-colour Society. | Messrs. Day and Son, the well known lithographers, invited us | the other day to see a proof, not then quite finished, of a litho-"; lettered, lower right: "tinted copy of Turner's "Blue Lights," a picture which many of | our readers will well remember, for its extraordinary develop- | ment of the artist's peculiarities. These Mr. Carrick has repro- | duced by means of thirteen drawings upon the stone, in such a | manner as to astonish us as much as did the original picture | when we first saw it; and now all that we can say concerning | this print is, that it must be seen to be credited, for we can only | compare it to a very highly-finished water-colour drawing, copied | with as great accuracy as could be done, from such an artist, by | the most skillful hand. The size of the work is large, and its | reproduction must have cost Mr. Carrick a vast amount of | patience and labour; for which, however, the result cannot fail | to compensate him. There is no doubt that the success attend- | ing this experiment will lead to others of equal importance, and | will produce a revolution in the aspect of the windows of our | printsellers. We should like to see a large picture by Landseer | submitted to this process, to test its further capabilities; though | of the issue there can be little doubt after what has already been | done. | From the MORNING CHRONICLE. | A fac-simile of this extraordinary work of art, one of the most | remarkable of the characteristic productions of the late J.M.W. | Turner, Esq. R.A. has just been produced by Messrs. Day and"