PAINTINGS & DRAWINGS FEATURES
British Watercolours 1750 - 1900
Samuel Palmer, Going Home at Curfew Time, 1864. Museum no. 40-1892 (click image for larger version)
The South Kensington Museum, later the Victoria and Albert, opened in 1857. The first catalogue of the museum's collection of watercolours was published only nineteen years later in 1876, by which time the museum had acquired nearly 500 watercolours. The catalogue noted:
'This interesting collection was commenced in 1857 with the intention of forming an historical series of paintings in Water Colours, and was the first attempt to bring together and exhibit to the public the works of those native artists who were the founders of a school peculiarly English in its...character.'
From 1857 the museum's curators collected watercolours both by famous artists of the past and by contemporary artists. These web pages reflect the diversity of the V&A's extensive collection of British watercolours, which today numbers many thousands. Instead of being arranged chronologically, as 'an historical series', these watercolours are grouped loosely according to themes such as 'Sun and Moon'. But within these thematic groups we can often see differences in terms of compositional focus and stylistic approach between artists from different generations.
Because watercolours fade in light and cannot be on permanent display, most of the watercolour collection is kept in boxes which are available in the Prints and Drawings Study Room, Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00-5.00. No appointment is needed. The watercolours seen in this section of the website have been selected from the wider collection, and are stored in topic boxes which can also be viewed in the Study Room.
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What is a Watercolour?
Watercolour paint is made by mixing pigments with a binder, usually gum arabic, and then applying it with water to a support such as vellum (fine animal skin) or paper. The water evaporates and the binder fixes the pigment to the support.
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Landscape as a Subject for British Painters
The rise of watercolour painting in Britain was closely tied to a growing acceptance in 18th century Britain of 'landscape' as an appropriate subject for painting. In the 1620s one writer, Edward Norgate, noted that landscape was an art so new to England that he could not 'find it a name'.
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Developing Subjects for Landscape Painting
From the middle of the 18th century a number of British writers sought to define and categorise human responses to natural phenomena. These four themed groups of watercolours loosely reflect both 18th century aesthetic theory and artistic practice; Italy, Ruins, Mountains, and Cottages & Churches.
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A Shift of Focus
In the themes of these groups of watercolours we see that the ostensible subject of each work is often not easy to categorise, for example, a short stretch of grey, windy beach, or an expanse of meadow full of wild flowers. Many 19th century artists were also motivated in their choice of subject by their desire to explore the potential of the medium of watercolour itself. -
The Watercolour Societies of the 19th Century
The establishment of exhibition societies was one of the great innovations in artistic life in 18th-century Britain. The Society of Artists opened in 1760 and the Royal Academy held its first exhibition in 1769.
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New Subjects for Watercolours
The watercolour exhibitions came to reflect the wider artistic taste of 19th century Britain and included historical and literary pieces, genre and narrative painting and still-life and flower paintings.