Watercolor came to western artists in the late 1400s. Artists had to formulate, prepare and grind their own watercolor paint and tended to keep their secret recipes and methods to themselves.
Watercolor came to western artists in the late 1400s. Artists had to formulate, prepare and grind their own watercolor paint and tended to keep their secret recipes and methods to themselves.
After setting up shop in 1766 William Reeves (UK) began selling the first water soluble dry cake watercolors.
By 1780 a bit of honey was added to the formulation to make the paint pliable for manufacture in various ways. Honey is a natural humectant, attracting and retaining moisture.
The first hard—but brush-soluble—cakes were fancily embossed with crests and heraldic figures (see photo). Mr. Reeves’ was even given an award "for the manufacture of Watercolour improved," in 1781 for his moist pan watercolours.
By the mid to late 1830s inexpensive painting sets with little porcelain pans of moist watercolors were introduced to the general public to compete with the harder pressed cakes.
Winsor Newton introduced their glycerine-softened formula moist cakes in 1835. The public was pleased. Amateur artists, Sunday painters and ladies being cultured in finishing school rejoiced in easy acessibility of quality painter supplies.
American John Goffe Rand (1801-1873) patented the first collapsible metal tube for artist’s oil paint on September 11, 1841. He had traded off his European patent for the tubes to appease creditors.
By 1846 Winsor & Newton (UK) modified their original moist cake formula and created a semi-liquid formula for metal tubes. They improved upon Rand's original tube design and ran with it. Everyone has been following ever since.
Artists have long painted outdoors, but in the mid-19th century working in natural light became particularly important to the Barbizon school and Impressionism. The popularity of painting en plein air increased in the 1870s with the introduction of paints in tubes (resembling modern toothpaste tubes). Previously, each painter made their own paints by grinding and mixing dry pigment powders with linseed oil. The Newlyn School in England is considered another major proponent of the technique in the latter 19th century.
