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History

Winsor & Newton in The Photographic Journal, 1914

The company was founded in 1832 by William Winsor and Henry Newton. The firm was originally located at 38 Rathbone Place, London.[2][3] Many artists and producers of art materials were based in this area, including artists like Constable.[4]

In 1841, Winsor & Newton were granted a Royal Warrant.[5] Winsor & Newton’s kolinsky sable brush, the Series 7, was developed for Queen Victoria in 1866.[6]

Winsor & Newton was incorporated as a limited company in 1881, when Henry Newton sold the business, with the Winsor and Newton families remaining shareholders.[5]

The company moved to Wealdstone in northwest London in 1937.[7] After World War II, they opened a brush-making factory in Lowestoft, which was still making brushes as of 2024.[8]

The company was formerly owned by conglomerate Reckitt & Colman until it was sold in the early 1990s to ColArt, a certified B corporation owned by family business Lindéngruppen.[9][10]

In 2010, ColArt announced that the Winsor & Newton factory in Wealdstone would close, with the manufacturing moved to France.[7]

Winsor & Newton partnered with the Paul Smith Foundation in 2024 to launch an art prize.[11][12]

Products

Winsor & Newton developed watercolour containing glycerine in 1835. William Winsor gained a patent for a screw cap mechanism on metal tubes that were collapsible in 1842, with the business selling watercolour in tubes subsequently to this. The company began selling craft products in 1911. In 1937, they launched Designers’ Gouache. An acrylics range was produced in 1970 and six years later they created the first alkyd colour for artists.[5]

Winsor & Newton introduced Artisan Water-Mixable oil paints, oil medium, linseed oil, stand oil, fast-drying medium, and impasto medium in 1997.[13]

Their historic archives have been analysed to identify the organic colourants possibly contained in shades.[14][15] These archives have also been discussed in terms of pigment history, canvas supports, oils and varnishes by authors Harley and Carlyle.[16]

Ink bottle
Series 7 kolinsky sable-hair brush
Product Range / brand
BrushesNatural hair (kolinsky sable –Series 7, squirrel, hog –Artist’s Hog, Azanta, Winton), synthetic fibres (Cotman, Monarch, Artisan, Galeria), natural/synthetic mix (Sceptre)
PaintsOil (Winton, Artist’s, Griffin Artisan), acrylic (Galeria, Finity), watercolour (Cotman, Artist’s), gouache (Designers), marker pens (Promarker), (Promarker Brush), (Promarker Watercolour), charcoal, graphite and coloured pencils
InksDrawing and calligraphy inks
PapersWatercolour, oil (Winton), acrylic (Galeria), marker, sketching
CanvasCotton, polycotton
AccessoriesCanvas boards, solvents, masking fluids, varnishes, easels, travel bags, brush holders, stools, instructional books

References

  1. ↑ “b. Colart”. www.lindengruppen.com. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  2. ↑ Aslet, Clive (1 March 2017). “How Winsor & Newton make paintbrushes that are ‘like a small feather skipping on water’“. Country Life. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  3. ↑ “British artists’ suppliers, 1650-1950 – W – National Portrait Gallery”. www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  4. ↑ Gibson, Mathew (23 October 2014). “Constable’s Country: Inspired by Suffolk Settings • V&A Blog”. V&A Blog. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 “Winsor and Newton”. www.gracesguide.co.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
  6. ↑ “The Best Detail Paint Brushes for Your Painting’s Finer Points”. ARTnews.com. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  7. 1 2 Royston, Jack (5 October 2010). “ColArt underfire over Wealdstone factory’s closure”. Harrow Times. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  8. ↑ de Gallier, Thea (22 October 2024). “The value of craftsmanship: how traditional skills are enduring in the modern world”. Positive News. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  9. ↑ “Reckitt & Colman Annual Report”. Companies House. 1990. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  10. ↑ “Colart – Certified B Corporation – B Lab Global”. www.bcorporation.net. Retrieved 4 August 2025.
  11. ↑ “Paul Smith’s Foundation and Winsor & Newton launch a new painting and drawing art prize”. Art Plugged. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  12. ↑ Sharrock, Lee (14 February 2025). “Inaugural Paul Smith’s Foundation And Winsor & Newton Art Prize Spotlights 6 Emerging Artists”. Forbes. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  13. ↑ Sundberg, Brynn N.; Lagalante, Anthony F. (1 March 2021). “Characterization of non-ionic surfactants in Winsor & Newton’s water-mixable oil paints”. Journal of Cultural Heritage. 48: 54–64. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2020.12.008. ISSN 1296-2074.
  14. ↑ Pozzi, Federica; Lombardi, John R.; Leona, Marco (29 July 2013). “Winsor & Newton original handbooks: a surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and Raman spectral database of dyes from modern watercolor pigments”. Heritage Science. 1 (1): 23. doi:10.1186/2050-7445-1-23. ISSN 2050-7445.
  15. ↑ Veiga, Tiago; Moro, Artur J.; Nabais, Paula; Vilarigues, Márcia; Otero, Vanessa (12 April 2023). “A First Approach to the Study of Winsor & Newton’s 19th-Century Manufacture of Madder Red Lake Pigments”. Heritage. 6 (4): 3606–3621. doi:10.3390/heritage6040192. hdl:10362/154621.
  16. ↑ Townsend, Joyce H. “The Materials Used by British Oil Painters in the Nineteenth Century – Tate Papers”. Tate. Retrieved 4 August 2025.