WATERCOLOURS
Watercolour features a bright and transparent colour.
The dye is formed by pigments reduced to fine powder and mixed with egg white or Arabic gum and loosed within water.
The most spread support is a special paper with a high percentage of cotton allowing the control of the colour spreading on the surface.
Watercolour can also be used on other supports, such as cardboard, parchment, silk, natural fabrics, papyrus, wood and ivory miniatures.
The term "watercolour" first appeared in Europe in 1700 in Holland, later in various other European regions, and finally in America.
For the simplicity of the concerned materials the watercolour was used by painters to stop colour impressions not only on landscapes, but also on portraits, flowers, still lifes, studies of botany and ornithology.
Many great artists have created masterpieces with this technique: Albrecht Durer, Pisanello, WilliamTurner, Cézanne, Gauguin, Manet, Picasso, Paul Klee.
