If one managed to escape the crowded turmoil of the Van Gogh show at the Royal Academy, the reward would be the quiet and contemplative Paul Sandby: Picturing Britain. As the first major retrospective of the Sandby’s work, it is of no less importance than the Van Gogh show, particularly in light of the recent resurrection of Sandby as a figure of key importance to eighteenth-century British art. A related exhibition, Eighteenth Century Watercolours from the Royal Academy Collection, accompanies this show and featuring works by Sandby and many of his successors, giving a broader context for Sandby’s work.

The five sections of the main exhibition reflect the traditional mixture of chronological and thematic display, and through this the rich variety of Sandby’s genres and techniques becomes self-evident. Labelled as the ‘father’ of English watercolour painting, Sandby was also proficient in oils, gouache, etching and aquatint. His will to experiment with materials was immense and his friends were used to receiving letters from him written, for example, in ink made of burnt bread. The sheer variety of his subject matter - from topographical sketches and maps, etched caricatures of eighteenth-century Londoners to watercolours of urban and rural landscapes - demonstrates the humour, attention to detail and almost scientific accuracy in Sandby’s depiction of nature.

Sandby is a virtuoso in depicting people in crowded market places: drunkards, women with children, and scenes of the clashing of the classes. These tableaus from street life are especially interesting as a critical comment on the authority of Hogarth in his time, and the latter’s pomposity as an art theorist. But Sandby is better known for his watercolours of ruined abbeys and castles and of peaceful British landscapes, which aimed to appeal to the nationalist instincts of the British people. This partly explains the nostalgic and peaceful impression one receives from this exhibition, which forms a quiet oasis within the busy and crowded London of today. Until Jun 13

ALISA OLEVA