A Brief History of Watercolour Painting

The History of Watercolour Painting.

Technically the first recorded instances of watercolour painting are those on the walls of Paleolithic era caves. This dates the first watercolours to around 32,000 years ago. You can still see some of these original paintings at Aurignac in the Haute-Garonne area in France. The Egyptians started using watercolour as they developed writing systems probably between 5-6,000 years ago this is largely regarded as the first use of watercolour on manuscript.

Watercolour painting as an art form began in earnest in the European Renaissance period of the 14^th and 15^th centuries. Albrecht Durer, the German Renaissance artist is largely regarded as one of the earliest experts and after his death in 1528 there followed a period known as the Durer Renaissance. Durer was a keen wildlife painter and even to this day watercolour is the preferred medium for wildlife artists, one of the famous being the 19^th century artist John James Audubon.

In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, Dutch and Flemish artists moved the medium forward and in the 18^th century artists of the calibre of Vincent Van Gogh were noted painters in the field. The British became prominent watercolour artists in the 17^th and 18^th centuries partly as the form became fashionable but also because of its use as a technical medium. The British Empire was entering a period of prodigious scientific and botanical discovery and, as already mentioned, watercolour is an ideal medium for detailed drawings.

The Chinese are noted watercolour artists, but although watercolour was introduced in China in the early 1700s it did not become a popular medium until the mid 1800s. Xu Beihong is one of the most noted Chinese watercolour artists. Watercolour is not limited to China however, and the simplicity of this art has made it available to other Asian countries, notably Thailand and Singapore.

Now into the 21^st century, watercolour remains arguably the most popular painting medium and a browse of this site will introduce you to some of the foremost artists of the past 500 years.