Watercolor painting and the Brandenburg Gate - a card from Germany

WATERCOLOR PAINTING

Country: Germany

Place: Mannheim

Received: 9/01/2013

Distance: 1 390 km

Travelled: 36 days

Watercolor painting

Watercolor (aquarelle) painting appeared in China after the paper’s invention in the 2nd century. In the 12-13th centuries paper extended widely in Europe, first of all in Spain and Italy. 

Watercolor painting combines both painting (shapes and space are created by the use of color) and graphics (active role of paper) features. 

Watercolor paint consists of some principal ingredients including pigments, arabic gum (binder), some additives and solvent. 

In the beginning of the 19th century watercolor painters had buy the pigments and prepare the paint themselves. The earliest commercial paints looked like resinous blocks to be wetted and rubbed out in water. In 1781 William and Thomas Reeves invented the moist watercolor paint and were awarded the Silver Palette of the Society of Arts. 

To avoid confusions with different color names used by their producers, in 1990 the art material industry began to list the pigments on the paint packaging and use the common pigment name ("Copper Violet”) or proper identification code (PV for "Pigment Violet").

The Brandenburg Gate 

The Brandenburg Gate is the only remaining town gate of Berlin. The original name for the gate is the Gate of the World. The gate was built by Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1789-1791 with the facade originally painted in white.

The Gate consists of twelve Doric columns forming five passageways, but the citizens originally were allowed to use only two of them. Atop the gate is the Quadriga of four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory.