"From New Zealand's biggest museum to one of its smallest galleries" is how Forrester Gallery Warwick Smith describes a new exhibition which runs at the Oamaru gallery until August 7.
A major coup has been scored by the gallery in securing the "Painting the View" exhibition of 31 watercolours by British artists drawn from a collection held by Te Papa.
It includes paintings by well-known artists such as J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, John Cotman, Thomas Gainsborough and Paul Sandby.
"There are many more and the opportunity to see works such as these in Oamaru should not be missed," Mr Smith said.
The selection from Te Papa's collection of watercolours is drawn from the period when watercolour painting became established in England and reached its greatest sophistication in the genre of landscape painting.
English artists began to look at their own environment with new eyes. With better roads and communications, the development of tourism in England extended the horizons of travellers and artists alike.
Formerly inaccessible regions such as Wales and the Lake District became increasingly common destinations for sketching tours, viewing nature in its wild and uncultivated state.
Advances in the methods of watercolour preparation, such as pre-mixed paints, meant materials could be carried and sketches painted on the spot. These and other developments led to a craze in painting the landscape among professional and amateur artists alike.
The touring exhibition has been drawn from works given to Te Papa by Archdeacon F.H.D. Smythe, and from works bought in the 1950s with funds from Sir Harold Beauchamp.
