‘Rather revolution than evolution’ Chinese White and Watercolour Painting Techniques in England 1850-1880

This chapter examines the impact of Winsor & Newton’s revolutionary new pigment, Chinese white, on watercolour painting methods and exhibition culture during the second half of the nineteenth century. Introduced in 1834, Chinese white provided watercolour artists for the first time with an opaque, permanent and stable white pigment which could safely be mixed with other colours. In addition, it did not blacken or discolour on contact with the toxic hydrogen sulphide fumes that filled the air in Victorian cities. Available in tubes or bottles, Chinese white was rapidly adopted by many of the leading watercolour painters of the day, who either mixed it directly with other colours (to create opaque bodycolour) or applied it as a luminous initial priming. Such powerful effects were popular with wealthy industrial patrons and progressive new exhibiting spaces but often alarmed critics, who questioned the legitimacy of this technique compared with the gentle transparent washes of traditional methods. Chinese white even became the subject of a fierce dispute between Winsor & Newton and the scientist George Bachhoffner, who sought to discredit the new product.