Hrh the Prince of Wales Watercolours

Prince Charles, who has been painting for 23 years, calls his watercolors `immediate and very amateur,'' and most of them do seem to function best as personal souvenirs of farms, windmills, cottages and rugged landscapes. Yet in some of the 73 paintings reproduced here he proves much more than a mere literalist. One need only look at the Turneresque beauty of Looking Towards Mar Lodge in the Rain, the dancing Dufyesque color of Andraitxyes.gs Harbour or the delicate shimmering poetry of Countryside Around Abbeystead. The prince's chatty, unpretentious facing-page commentaries accompany each plate. Along with atmospheric vistas of the English and Scottish countrysides are often serendipitous views of Italy, France, the Turkish coast, a Hong Kong bay and an ancient Jordanian city. Nature's majesty quietly shines through in the best of these pictures. (Sept.)