Edition
Arbutus Tree LandscapeEdition Size
ThreeEdition Number
IINotes
Set of three watercolour landscape scenes of Goldstream Park, Victoria, BC -
Arbutus Tree Landscape I, II and III
See also 2001.01.75 and 2001.01.76.
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Watercolour is known as the oldest painting medium, from when prehistoric peoples used pigments from trees or leaves, and other water-based pigments to make cave paintings. Watercolour painting is a distinctive art form, straddling the worlds of both drawing and painting. Once a stroke or wash is applied, it cannot be altered, and so demands great skill, training and experience. The paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble binder. The discovery, invention or refinement of various related technologies such as papyrus, paper, paint brushes and pre-made watercolour pigments, cakes and tubes all contributed to the development of watercolour painting around the world.
Watercolour painting dominated Asian art for thousands of years, and still does today. In China and Japan, watercolour art (known as brush or scroll painting, or ink and wash) is the universal painting medium, with some using only black inks to produce monochrome works with detailed brush work. In Europe during the Middle Ages, watercolours were used to create illuminated manuscripts as well as colour maps. Later during the Renaissance they were used to create make portrait miniatures or create nature studies. And in the late 18th century during the Golden Age of watercolour painting, artists from the school of English landscape painting raised its status to a serious and independent art form that continues today.
![Bullen family home on the north side of Esquimalt Road [Victoria], west of Head Street known as "Oakdene", 1956. Photograph by Cecil George Clark 1899-1993: From City of Victoria Archives (Item M02546)](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/5457/60640af0-e89e-11ee-90a5-433502fba505-vUVFCrw.lg@2x.jpg)