Early English Water-Colour Drawings of the Great Masters

A. J. Finberg, the distinguished British art historian and former Director of the National Gallery, guides readers through the luminous world of early English watercolour masters. The book centers on J.M.W. Turner, whose radical approach to the medium pushed watercolour beyond mere sketch-making into the realm of breathtaking atmospheric drama. Finberg traces the lineage of this achievement, examining Turner's predecessors and contemporaries who collectively established watercolour as Britain's distinctive contribution to visual art. The text functions as both critical appreciation and historical record, preserving intimate knowledge of exhibitions, collections, and artistic methods that have since shifted or vanished. Finberg writes with the authority of someone who handled these works directly, offering insights no subsequent scholar can replicate. The result is an indispensable guide to understanding how a group of British artists transformed a humble medium into vehicles for unprecedented emotional and perceptual power.