| Description | Volume VIII contains correspondence to and from G. F. Watts to Winsor and Newton, colour specialists, in particular with J. Scott Taylor of Winsor and Newton's steam-powered factory at Kentish Town known as the North London Colour Works; volume also contains correspondence with specialists in colour and paint.
Correspondence includes discussions with Winsor and Newton into chemical and scientific problems; colour theory; Watts' preferences for colour; colour trials and how colours change over time; the use of oil in painting in particular linseed oil, walnut oil, poppy oil and rock oil; exposure; the use of varnish; diluents including turpentine, benzene and petroleum; specific colours developed for Watts, for example his favourite 'Purple Lake'; the grinding of colours; bone palettes; stiffness of brushes; the 'safety' of the colours; Watts providing his name and testimony to Winsor and Newton's business; mastic varnishes; distempers; the Venetians use of colour; tempera mediums in frescos; invention of wide mouthed studio tubes; evaporation rates; includes samples of paint specimens; volume also includes correspondence with Sir Arthur Herbert Church, Arthur Pillans Laurie, William Dyer, John Bell and Co. and William Noy Wilkins regarding colour and artistic materials.
Material is catalogued following the order of bound letters in volume, which are numbered in a running order, awarded prior to the dismantlement of the collection. Items sold in separate lots not bought by the National Portrait Gallery may be held at other institutions or in private collections. |