Watercolor over graphite on medium, moderately textured, cream laid paper, laid down on original mount
Dimensions:
Sheet: 12 3/16 x 17 1/2 inches (31 x 44.5 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.4.1850
Gallery Label:
John “Warwick” Smith, one of the great innovators in late eighteenth-century watercolor, helped to move the art away from colored drawing towards a more painterly use of the medium. He spent the period between 1775 and 1781 in Italy thanks to the patronage of the 2nd Earl of Warwick. On his return he presented the Earl with this watercolor as part of a large series that was originally kept in a portfolio at Warwick Castle. The entire composition rests on a careful control of tone, using subtle gray and blue washes to suggest light, atmosphere, and depth. The time of day is presumably early morning with a dawn mist spreading over the water. To catch these atmospheric conditions, Smith has exploited the full potential of watercolor’s translucency. He has even left a small band of entirely untouched white paper between the mountains and the water to suggest mist rising off the lake’s surface. 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)
