Gainsborough to Ruskin

Although this rendering of the park at Ashtead most likely dates to 1818, Cotman first visited Dr. Monro at his country house at Fetcham during the summer of 1799. In his premiere exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1800, the artist included a number of Fetcham drawings.

Varley had made several sketching tours through Wales, Yorkshire, and Northumberland. During the summer months he rented a house at Twickenham and, along with his students, sketched by the bank of the Thames. His later works are more composed examples of the picturesque ideal: here figures and sheep travel along a tree-lined road dappled by sunlight and shadow.

"Warwick" Smith lived in Italy from 1776 to 1781, where he was sponsored by the second earl of Warwick. Because of his numerous Italian subjects and the name of his patron, he was known by two nicknames: "Italian" and "Warwick." Generally the watercolors made during this time are a blend of subdued colors, usually a combination of grays and blues, tinged with pink.

Executed on a small sheet of blue paper identical to that used for drawings of the late 1820s or early 1830s, it seems likely that this leaf from a sketchbook may be from that period. In its freedom of execution it anticipates Impressionism, which was to develop in France later in the century. Intended as a color notation for the artist's own use and not as a work of art, the subject—a rainy if not stormy day on the coast—evokes Turner's personal and Romantic response to the violence of the sea.

In 1817 Turner went to the Continent, touring the battleground of Waterloo, stopping in Cologne, and traveling up the Rhine. He made a series of fifty-one views of the Rhine, including seven studies of Lurleiberg, a huge rock formation near St. Goar, named after the legendary siren who lured sailors to their doom. The Rhine, with its combination of mountain and river scenery, appealed to Turner, who was attracted to the terrifying side of nature. Here the artist blended his colors so skillfully that it is difficult to separate the rocky surface from the mists that envelop it.

This sheet is probably from one of Turner's sketchbooks, quite possibly from one of much the same size that he used in 1845. Both the extreme freedom with which the watercolor is applied and the color of the sky support the late dating of this work. The Goodwin Sands are off the Kentish coast opposite Deal and Walmer, and it is likely that Turner spent some time at Margate in 1845 before a short visit to France. Additional interest is provided by some lines in Turner's hand that must come from his manuscript poem "Fallacies of Hope."

Turner was occupied with views of castles and country houses as he traveled through England and Scotland during the 1790s . In this decade he also made his way from topographer to colorist. Here Turner's washes were applied in layers to suggest depth and atmosphere. The play of light and shadow is also impressive, the dark foreground serving to offset the castle seen in the distance, still lit by sunlight. This sheet and a companion view of the same subject were engraved by S. Rawle in 1800, and the plate was dedicated to the castle's owner, Mr. J.

Commissioned by Ruskin, this drawing was executed by Turner in 1845. The view represents the Lake of Lucerne at sunset, the golden light shimmering across the distant mountains, with the blue of the water and coast suggested by jewel-like colors. Executed in Turner's last and perhaps greatest phase, his brushwork is free, as is his use of color. His technical mastery, as well as his attempt to suggest the intangible, enabled him to achieve dazzling effects in watercolor.

In 1803 Cristall traveled to Wales in the company of Cornelius Varley, whom he had met at the drawing academy of Dr. Monro. The tour marked an important point in Cristall's evolving artistic maturity, and the works he produced at that time are remarkably varied.

The picturesque attitude had a strong impact on the topographical artist, as seen here in Sandby's watercolor of Tutbury Castle. The artist not only exploited the picturesque love of ruins, and the rough and irregular forms, but he enhanced the rustic charm with his depiction of a herdsman and three cows.