With a binder of gum arabic, watercolours came into use in the Renaissance, and have steadily increased in popularity.
Girtin
Gérôme’s ‘Ave Caesar’ was a visually stunning wide-angle spectacular, with its detailed reconstructions. Examined in the light of Claude, Girtin, Turner, and others.
This takes us from Samuel Palmer and Peter De Wint, through Girtin and Cotman, to JMW Turner and William Blake.
Where land, sea, and sky meet. Sought-after and hugely popular in fine weather, the forces of nature are most obvious in storms. The cradle of Impressionism and more modern painting.
What are accessories or ‘staffage’, what narrative, and what intrinsic to the reading and style of a landscape?
In the last couple of years of his brief life, his watercolours changed, and pushed the boundaries, for others to follow.
In a fraction of the lifespan enjoyed by JMW Turner, Tom Girtin took watercolour to new heights. The first of two parts showing his work.
Two late paintings portraying tranquil sunlit scenes of dawn over still water, remarkable in their anticipation of Impressionism.
The Eclectic Light Company 