A Te Papa touring exhibition of watercolours drawn from the period when watercolour painting became established in England and reached its greatest sophistication in the genre of landscape painting. The exhibition features 31 works including coastal scenes, street scenes, and depictions of picturesque ruins and rural activities.
There are two pen and wash sketches by John Constable, and works by Thomas Gainsborough and John Ruskin. The exhibition reflects an era of rapid change in English landscape painting. Previously, artists had been strongly influenced by French and Dutch landscape artists, but in this era they began to look at their own landscape with new eyes. They were helped in this by innovations such as premixed paints, and better roads and communications which opened up previously inaccessible parts of the British Isles. Sketching trips by both professional and amateur artists consequently became a popular pastime. The works have been drawn from the gift of Archdeacon F H D Smythe, and works purchased in the 1950s with Sir Harold Beauchamp funds.