First chance to see pictures by 'father of watercolour'

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 21:27

THREE masterpieces by the artist dubbed the father of British watercolour painting are going on show to the public for the first time – two centuries after they were painted.

The works by Paul Sandby show different views of Luton Park, a Bedfordshire estate then owned by the Earl of Bute. They have been held in a private Scottish collection since they were painted in 1765.

Picturing Britain, an exhibition devoted to the pioneering landscape painter, opens at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh tomorrow.

It includes more than 100 works on loan from collections of Sandby's work in the UK and overseas. They include early landscapes of Edinburgh, Roslin Castle, and maps of Scotland by an artist who paved the way for great figures such as JMW Turner.

Sandby was born in Nottingham and travelled widely in Scotland as a military map-maker. The exhibition includes the first Scottish showing for part of the "Great Map" of Scotland he helped paint in 1747. The three watercolours are in pristine condition and have never been seen in an exhibition, said Christopher Baker, the gallery's deputy director.

"They are superb because of the quality of the compositions. They are technically very sophisticated, pushing the boundaries of what watercolour can do," he said.