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| ARTIST: | Joseph Matthews |
| DATES: | British exhibited 1869 - 1881 |
| TITLE: | A View from Juniper Hill, Guildford, Surrey |
| MEDIUM: | Watercolour |
| SIZE: | 28 x 45 cm |
| REMARKS: | Signed & dated 1876 lower right |
| $NZ: | Category C |
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Joseph MATTHEWS British Exhib. 1869 – 1881 Joseph Matthews was a Victorian landscape painter based in London. He painted many scenes observed in Surrey and its boroughs, such as views of the county town of Guildford. From records we know that Matthews exhibited five watercolours at Suffolk Street Galleries, including Farley Heath – Ewhurst Firs in the Distance, and showed works at other venues such as the Dudley Gallery. Matthews is one of the many accomplished British watercolourists from the Victorian era who saw the genre flourish and be perfected, resulting in some of the most beautiful and extraordinary watercolours ever painted. With their meticulous technique and discreet purpose, they convey much about the Romantic and moral temperament of the age. Watercolour was used to record all aspects of contemporary life and the surroundings amongst which that life was led; all of which were rapidly changing in their appearance. Further, the nineteenth century was marked by a fundamental materialism. The Victorians were fascinated by the ‘essential character’ of physical objects, and indulged a passion for the description and classification of all materials, natural or man-made. Realism was thus a matter of professional necessity, and collectors greatly enjoyed being able to recognise the exact type and character of objects depicted, and to comprehend all the elements of a composition. The Art Journal observed in 1857: “Richness, depth, substance, and finish, are in these days indispensable, if reputation is to be achieved or sustained.” In regards to technique, a revolution occurred in the 1830s - 1840s when watercolourists began to experiment with ‘bodycolour’. Traditionally the painter would build up colour with translucent washes on white paper, the paper playing an important part in illuminating the lighter areas of the composition. They then discovered that by mixing manufactured pigments, such as Chinese White, opaque colours with a texture akin to gouche could be created, and with these they could achieve a greater texture and tonal range. These pigments were also of a better consistency for depicting intricate detail and the texture of surfaces. Many ‘purists’ regarded bodycolour with disfavour, however it had increasing number of adherents into the later century, including the Pre-Raphaelites. Evidence of this technique can be seen in Matthews’ Gathering Bracken and Juniper Hill, which both feature meticulous observations of nature and the weather. By treating watercolour in this manner, watercolourists of the nineteenth century sought to propel the genre to the level where it might compete in terms of finish and scale with oil painting. |
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