Landscape with a Castle

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Landscape with a Castle

Artist Paul Sandby (British, 1725-1809)

Dateabout 1776-1786

DimensionsH: 11 3/4 in. (29.9 cm); W: 17 3/4 in. (45.1 cm)

MediumGraphite, watercolor, and pen and brown ink (likely iron gall) on laid paper

ClassificationDrawings

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1950.233

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 22

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Transparent Color, May 3 - August 25, 2002.

Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.

Toledo Museum of Art, Earthly Beauty, May 29-Sept. 6, 2015.

Label TextA bucolic image of the English countryside, this drawing gives no hint of the great changes occurring in England at this time: effects on the countryside of the burgeoning Industrial Revolution included loss of wooded lands, greater agriculture production, and accelerated movement of the population towards the cities. Paul Sandby is considered “the father of English watercolor.” He became Chief Drawing Master at the Royal Military Academy in Woolrich and was even drawing instructor to the daughters of King George III (ruled 1760–1820). Sandby was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1768. As a member of the Academy he helped to raise the status of landscape artists and to popularize and professionalize painting in watercolor. According to the great English artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), there was no better artist than Sandby for “real views from Nature in this Country.” Sandby had a long career, working until he was in his 80s.