St. James' Park with a View of Westminster Abbey 

This view of St. James' Park with Westminster Abbey was made around 1800 by Thomas Girtin, using watercolor on paper. Think about the materials: paper, ground from plants and minerals, mixed with water. It’s a portable medium, quick to apply. This made it perfect for the increasingly popular practice of sketching outdoors, en plein air. Consider the labor involved in producing such a painting. From the making of the paper to the grinding of pigments, it was all much more of a hand-made operation than we can imagine today. And then the skilled application of washes, one after the other, to build up this panoramic view. But watercolor isn’t just about accurate rendering; it's also about atmosphere. It’s especially good for capturing the damp climate of London, a place where the natural world and the man-made co-exist, and blur into one another. Recognizing the labor and material processes reveals the social and cultural significance that the artwork holds.