Italianate river landscape

1750–60

Not on view

Taverner was among the earliest British artists to paint ambitiously in watercolor, adopting visual structures previously associated with Italian and Dutch works in oil. This expansive composition across three joined sheets of paper encapsulates his experimental approach. Layers of tone define form, gouache strengthens the foliage, and iron gall ink is applied to the shadows. Aspects of the river scene resemble a stretch of the Thames near Windsor, although the sinuous arrangement and planar buildings recall landscapes by the Italian master Paolo Anesi. Taverner earned his living in London as procurator-general of the ecclesiastical Court of Arches of Canterbury. This freed him from the drudgery of painting country-house views and enabled him to produce watercolors that Paul Sandby and Thomas Gainsborough admired.

Artwork Details

Title: Italianate river landscape
Artist: William Taverner (British, London 1700–1772 London)
Date: 1750–60
Medium: Watercolor, gouache (bodycolor) and iron gall ink over graphite on three joined sheets
Dimensions: Sheet: 12 5/8 × 46 11/16 in. (32.1 × 118.6 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2017
Object Number: 2017.432
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By William Taverner

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Hilly Landscape with Two Figures on a Road, William Taverner British, Watercolor over black chalk — Hilly Landscape with Two Figures on a Road
William Taverner
mid-18th century

Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberland, Thomas Girtin British, Watercolor and bodycolor (gouache) — Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberland
Thomas Girtin
1796–97

Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints, Gideon Saint British, Pen and ink, engraving and etching — Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints
Gideon Saint
ca. 1760

Portrait of Emma Hamilton, Angelica Kauffmann Swiss, Black and white chalk, on gray prepared paper — Portrait of Emma Hamilton
Angelica Kauffmann
Lady Emma Hamilton
1791

The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons, Jacques Louis David French, Black chalk, pen and black and brown ink, brush and gray and brown wash, heightened with white gouache — The Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of his Sons
Jacques Louis David
1787

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