View of Lincoln
1784
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1784
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
You see a soft watercolor of Lincoln’s cathedral rising above rooftops, its towers hazy in the distance. Turner painted this when he was just a teenager, selling views like postcards to travelers. The paper is so thin you can see the pencil lines he sketched first. Look up how Turner used *sfumato*—a way of blending colors so edges disappear, like smoke.
