Day 0080

Looked in on the Francis Towne watercolour exhibition at the British Museum. What an accretion of bland, formulaic, not-that-bad but forgettable work. Page after page of the same unvarying technique, the same trees and foliage and the same diagonal shadows. It's almost like the result of an industrial process, not art. There was no soul, no expression, no experimentation. Give me a Turner watercolour over this lot any day.

Some advice about the need to get quality work in front of audience, written to Towne from a friend:

The more excellent a man's works are the more they ought to be seen - if he wishes to obtain Honour or Emolument & they generally accompany each other - pray remember this & be no longer like the Rose in the Wilderness - that blooms to fade unseen & wastes its sweetness in the Desart AirRichard Cosway to Towne, 15 Mar 1779

If you have something good to say or show, share it for honour and money, don't fade like a rose in the wilderness.

Only had time for a quick drawing from life after returning from the metropolis, and it's a fairly hideous effort alas.