The Watercolour World,

Before we all had our smartphones and took pictures of our breakfast, the method of recording an image was usually a watercolour. Travellers would take a small watercolour set with them and paint what they saw.

Speaking of watercolours made overseas during the 18th and 19th centuries, Mr Fred Hohler, founder of the project joked: “There were enormous numbers of well-trained women who, while their husbands were off shooting tigers, were actually doing something useful.”

Unfortunately, watercolours are fragile and when damaged those images are then lost to us. The Watercolour World is a UK-based charity working with public and private collections from around the world to create a free online database of documentary watercolours painted before 1900.

If you have a watercolour, you would like to submit or have background knowledge which would be beneficial to the project or even if you have time to tag, organise or research then The Watercolour World would like to hear from you.

Here’s the link should you want to find out more or get involved:

https://www.watercolourworld.org