Watercolor and gouache over graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 14 3/4 x 21 3/16 inches (37.5 x 53.8 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.3.981
Gallery Label:
Paul Sandby has traditionally been called “the father of English watercolor.” Although far from the first watercolor painter in England, he was certainly the first to achieve prominence. Trained as a military topographer, by the early 176os he had become a full-fledged landscape painter, regularly showing his work in the public exhibitions that were a new feature of the London art world. This imaginary landscape, modeled on Italian landscapes by the likes of Marco Ricci, shows Sandby appealing to the sophisticated taste of an elite audience who favored idealized continental views over mundane English topography. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)
