Watercolour exhibition showing Wandsworth through the decades unveiled (From Surrey Comet)

Watercolour exhibition showing Wandsworth through the decades unveiled

3:30pm Saturday 22nd September 2012 in Leisure By Alexandra Rucki

A temporary exhibition of watercolours all created in the borough has been unveiled.

Painting Wandsworth is made up of watercolours dating back to 1770-1925, with more than 60 featuring in the show.

Images depict historic scenes from Wandsworth, Roehampton, Putney, Nine Elms and Tooting.

The watercolours reveal how the borough looked a century ago through the eyes of 19th Century painters captivated by it's appearance.

Visitors can view the transformation of the area from a series of villages into an urbanised and industrialised suburb.

Images range from beautiful pastoral landscapes to long demolished buildings, as well as vanished parts of Wandsworth Town, Battersea and Putney riverscapes.

The exhibition paints a vivid picture of an area once covered in woodland, meadows and cottages which have now been replaced by suburban housing and railways.

Particular highlights include paintings of the River Wandle mills and an 1815 view of West Hill.

There are also images of the Old Putney Bridge, before it was torn down.

Painting Wandsworth, Wandsworth Museum, West Hill, Adults £4 (concs £3, children six and under free), open Tuesdays to Friday 10am-5pm, weekends 11am-5pm, visit wandsworthmuseum.co.uk or call 020 8870 6060