ABSTRACT
If the first element in the formation of an independent professional identity for watercolourists could be described as a negotiation between a new and ambitious faction of artists and an established elite, the character of the second strand of the project was more defensive. The danger posed by artisanal associations and the need for the profession to establish a distinct boundary were not, of course, specific to watercolourists. There were considerable commercial pressures placed on practitioners to compromise their identity as independent and inventive artists, and, as with any other manufacturer of commodities, there was a temptation to reduce costs by employing processes of mass production, replication, and mechanisation. Critics were also troubled by John Downman's all too evident productivity, and a number suggested that he 'manufactured' large numbers of works which were 'all alike'. The works exhibited by Soane in 1799 were as far as he went in encouraging Gandy to blur the boundary between landscape painting and architecture.
