John Cousen after J. M. W. Turner, ‘Petworth Park’, in Wornum, The Turner Gallery: a Series of Sixty Engravings from the Principal Works of Joseph Mallord William Turner. London: J. S. Virtue, 1862. Eb.18.30

‘Petworth can boast of the picturesque beauty of its surrounding scenery from several points of view, yet its chief glory is the Park… The large piece of water, in front of the house, with the adjacent hill has afforded a subject for some of our most eminent landscape painters.’ (Wornum).

The classical landscapes that attracted Grand Tourists and led to their enthusiasm for Brown’s work had also inspired European artists, such as the French master Claude Lorrain (1600–1682). So enduring was the appeal of Claude’s sunlit, unblemished compositions that over a century later they were still influencing British landscape painters. Initially, J. M. W. Turner was among this group, mimicking closely Claude’s flawless style. However, as Turner’s work matured, he deviated from the staged balance of classical composition and embraced instead a style that increasingly conflicted with the classical lines of Claude’s canvases and Brown’s landscapes. ‘Petworth Park’, based on Turner’s painting Fighting Bucks (1829) and published as an engraving after his death, displays both the influence of Claude and elements of the more fashionable and rugged vocabulary of Romanticism.