Circle of William Payne (1755-1834) – A Family Outside Cottage, ink wash on paper

A Family Outside Cottage, circle of William Payne (1755-1830).

Ink and wash on paper. SN/AF-25-0011 Provenance: The Arnold Fellows Collection

William Payne was in his day the most popular drawing-master in London.

His success was partly based on his ability to capture a unique rendering of sunlight and atmosphere into his art work.

Payne adapted unique methods that considerably increased his scope as watercolourist. He most famously invented the tint Payne's grey, a neutral tint composed of indigo, raw sienna, and lake called Payne's grey. 

Other innovations included "splitting the brush to give forms of foliage, dragging the tints to give texture to his foregrounds, and taking out the forms of lights by wetting the surface and rubbing with bread and rag".

He was one of the first 'draughtsmen' to abandon mere topography for a more poetical treatment of landscape scenery.