1803
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
A Selection of Twenty of the Most Picturesque Views in Paris: The Water Works at Marli, and St. Germain en Laye seen in the distance is a 1803 by Girtin, a Romanticism work, depicting Seine, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a wide, misty river with a stone waterworks on the left and a pale castle on the far bank. Girtin painted this after a short trip to France during a rare pause in the Napoleonic Wars. He used watercolor like oil paint—layering washes to build depth without heavy brushstrokes. The sky feels alive, though it’s just thin, overlapping blues. If you like this quiet light, try the technique called *sfumato*.
Girtin, along with his rival J. M. W. Turner, extended the technical possibilities of watercolor and in doing so demonstrated that watercolors could have the visual impact of oils. His reduction of landscape to simple and monumental forms, his panoramic compositions, and his sensitivity to natural effects, such as cloud formations, influenced subsequent generations of watercolor painters. Anxious to take advantage of the Peace of Amiens (October 1, 1801), Girtin went to Paris to see the artistic treasures brought back from Italy by Napoleon and installed in the Louvre. He made graphite…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Thomas Girtin (18 February 1775 – 9 November 1802) was an English watercolourist and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form.
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