'Greenwich Park, a Capriccio', Jonathan Skelton

Artwork details

Artist

Jonathan Skelton (c.1735‑1759)

Title

Greenwich Park, a Capriccio

Date 1757

MediumGraphite, ink and watercolour on paper

Dimensionssupport: 250 x 541 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996

Reference

T08254

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Display caption

Skelton is an important figure in the emergence of a landscape watercolour tradition in Britain in the mid-eighteenth century but, like William Taverner (nos.7-8), a rather shadowy one. A profile of his life and work can only be pieced together by examining the locations depicted in his watercolours, which all date from between 1754 and 1758. In 1757 Skelton travelled to Italy. We know from the letters he wrote the next year from Rome and Tivoli to his patron that he was often working out of doors there painting in oil and watercolours from nature… (read more)

September 2004