A river cruise starting with JMW Turner at Maidenhead in the Berkshire countryside, and ending with Whistler at Battersea Bridge.
Turner
From Nabi women climbing stepladders to gathering plums in baskets, with a visit to the garden of the Hesperides, and ending in the garden of Eden.
Moving around changed greatly in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the advent of canals, steam ships and trains, hot air balloons, and the bicycle.
Starting from Egyptian blue in ancient times, pigments preferred by painters for sky blue have changed repeatedly. Here’s a brief history.
Travel by sea was hazardous. Here are paintings of shipwrecks from Tintoretto to the early 19th century, as an introduction to The Tempest.
Declared sublime, and named after the throat, they’re painted from the mid-18th century. Works by Wolf, Turner, Ward, German Romantics and more.
Examples from Wright of Derby, Turner, Millet, van Gogh, Bonnard and others. But how many used the monochrome of scotopic vision?
Joshua Reynolds, who aspired to paint like Rembrandt; JMW Turner who explored colour contrasts and texture; Edgar Degas, who dried his oils before painting.
A trip round the painter’s palette, with outstanding examples of well-known colours in use. Starts with yellow, then to red and finally to blue.
A few artists made science and technology significant themes in their paintings. Joseph Wright of Derby was among them, thanks to his friend Peter Burdett.
The Eclectic Light Company 