Customer Reviews

The Golden Age of Watercolours

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Sir Hickman Bacon was a man ahead of his time as is reflected in his magnificent collection of British landscape drawings and watercolors. It is now the largest collection of English watercolors still in private ownership.

As an accompaniment to a London exhibit The Golden Age Of Watercolours presents the best of this collection - works by artists who painted during the mid nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century.

We find J. M. W. Turner, premier watercolorist, who, it is said, painted with his doors locked so as not to risk anyone discovering the secrets of how he obtained the effects of depth and breadth in his paintings.

Thomas Girtin, a rambunctious artist who was imprisoned for defaulting on his apprenticeship, was also favored by Bacon. While incarcerated Girtin amused himself by covering the walls of his cell with landscapes. A guard was astonished to see this artwork, and played a part in Girtin's eventual release.

The inventiveness of John Sell Cotman was recognized by Bacon long before Cotman won popular approval, as was the work of Richard Parks Bonington.

Art historian Eric Shanes has penned an essay recounting the making of this collection which accompanies the glorious illustrations.

- Gail Cooke

Sir Hickman Bacon was a man ahead of his time as is reflected in his magnificent collection of British landscape drawings and watercolors. It is now the largest collection of English watercolors still in private ownership.

As an accompaniment to a London exhibit The Golden Age Of Watercolours presents the best of this collection - works by artists who painted during the mid nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century.

We find J. M. W. Turner, premier watercolorist, who, it is said, painted with his doors locked so as not to risk anyone discovering the secrets of how he obtained the effects of depth and breadth in his paintings.

Thomas Girtin, a rambunctious artist who was imprisoned for defaulting on his apprenticeship, was also favored by Bacon. While incarcerated Girtin amused himself by covering the walls of his cell with landscapes. A guard was astonished to see this artwork, and played a part in Girtin's eventual release.

The inventiveness of John Sell Cotman was recognized by Bacon long before Cotman won popular approval, as was the work of Richard Parks Bonington.

Art historian Eric Shanes has penned an essay recounting the making of this collection which accompanies the glorious illustrations.

- Gail Cooke