Understanding watercolours - H. L Mallalieu

This book
acts as an extremely practical introduction to the subject of collecting British watercolour paintings. There is a lot more to collecting than noting just the price, the name of the artist and deciding whether or not one likes the subject. Many watercolours are either not signed or bear false signatures, or perhaps have been saddled with misleading attributions. The excellent text and carefully chosen illustrations take the collector behind the formal signature on the picture and show him what to look for in it, the idiosyncrasies of the artist, his style and his individual methods of working. Yet even when all the technical points are understood, there remains the whim of fashion which varies over long periods and has moved round, ignoring or puffing each artist in turn. Without an understanding of the movement of fashion, past collections and ideas on collecting, it would be hard to understand the subject.