Turner’s mezzotint depiction of the Tyne was particularly well suited to reinterpretation in mezzotint, a printmaking technique that allows printmakers to achieve dramatic tonal contrast.

The lighthouse in the distance, below the glowing moon, corresponds with the still standing Low Light Tower at North Shields. The right foreground, meanwhile, shows keelmen shovelling coal from keelboats into a coal vessel at South Shields. The hills are not natural features, but heaps of ‘ballast’ comprised of the shingle, chalk or sand used to stabilise empty returning coal ships, together with some waste from the salt and glass works.

Turner also made a finished oil painting based on this subject (image below). The contemplative mood and inclusion of industrial subject matter has seen these views of the Tyne compared to The Fighting Temeraire.

Provenance: Victoria and Albert Museum: Bequeathed by Horace Mummery

Object description
Type: Prints, engravings & etchings
Location: Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne & Wear
Material: Mezzotint on paper
Artist: Charles Turner (1774-1857) after Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
Date: 1823

Image Details
Date: 19 June 2024
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 640
Licensing: Image of a National Gallery asset. This image cannot be licensed.