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

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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
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mid-18th century

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Silhouetted Study of Bacchus in a Niche, Anonymous, Italian, 18th century Italian, Pen and gray ink, brush with gray and pale brown wash, highlighted with white gouache, over black chalk, on cream paper. Figure cut out along contours and pasted onto a drawn niche with an arched top (in brush and gray wash, over graphite or lead) on beige paper — Silhouetted Study of Bacchus in a Niche
Anonymous, Italian, 18th century
18th century

"Royal George" Cello, William Forster British, Spruce, maple, ebony, British — "Royal George" Cello
William Forster
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Grand Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany Surrounded by his Artists., Giorgio Vasari Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, highlighted with white gouache, over traces of black chalk or graphite, on gray-green paper — Grand Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany Surrounded by his Artists.
Workshop of Giorgio Vasari
Attributed to Jacopo Zucchi
ca. 1556–62

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