Cathy's Art Diary

Useful online study morning from the Wallace Collection to compliment their exhibition of watercolours by Turner and Bonington. Taking the exhibition as a starting point the morning consisted of five talks beginning with a description of the show by its curator Lucy Davis who discussed the pictures and how they entered the collection. John Bonehill from the University of Glasgow then talked about Turner and landed estates and the concept of estate portraits which I hadn’t consciously come across before. He talked about how Turner started doing these as a money spinner but developed the style into a higher form. Next was Timothy Barringer from Yale University looking at how both artists reflected the modern world and how pictures which look romantic to us also critique the changing world in which they were painted. There was a useful talk by Joyce H Townsend from the Tate taking us thought the technique of watercolour and developments in the early 19th century including the inv...

Charming small exhibition at the Wallace Collection of watercolours by J.M.W. Turner and Richard Bonington. There were just ten pictures in the show but they were beautiful and delicate. The commentary was well and clearly written covering the techniques used as well as the stories behind the pictures. I loved the pictures of Venice by Bonington, an artist I had not come across before. He was based in France and was known to admire Turner. As well as the Venice works there were pictures of Normandy. The four Turner pictures were of Yorkshire and were all done for the brother-in-law of his friend   Walter Fawkes, with who he spent holidays in the county. They felt like his version of holiday photographs and included the two men in the landscapes.   Closes 12 May 2024 Review Evening Standard