ExhibitionThe Golden Age of British Watercolors, 1790–1910

Exhibition Overview

Watercolor as a medium reached its pinnacle in Victorian Britain. This exhibition demonstrates the distinctive characteristics of watercolor—delicacy, luminosity, visual opulence, and technical difficulty—and presents a range of nineteenth-century subject matter, including landscape, still life, fairy painting, and classical themes. It also shows the varied uses of watercolor, from travel souvenirs to illustrations to independent works of art. Visually powerful and intellectually engaging, The Golden Age of British Watercolors, 1790–1910 reveals watercolor in a new light.

The Golden Age of British Watercolors, 1790–1910 was researched and curated by UW–Madison undergraduate and graduate students in Nancy Rose Marshall’s Victorian Watercolor Seminar (spring 2012).