Art shows can be very large. Tate Britain’s Watercolour show is no exception — almost 280 works – but the story they tell, of the history of watercolour painting in Britain — from medieval illustration beginnings, through miniatures, maps, topography, natural history illustration, war art, abstract art, and on to contemporary interpretations — is told with such a light touch, fitting the medium explored, that it was a joy to go round.

Using a few examples for each category, as if with a few deft brushstrokes, the themed galleries illustrate the uses, techniques and status of watercolour, challenging the idea of its being too conventional, a lesser medium. Drawing upon masters such as William Blake, Thomas Girtin, and J.M.W. Turner — modern and contemporary artists too, such as Patrick Heron, Peter Doig and Tracey Emin — they reveal a wealth of British talent drawn to this accessible yet underrated medium.

Many early works were made in the spirit of knowledge and scientific enquiry, not as an art form, said Alison Smith, the curator. The Natural World gallery shows many intricate examples including Alexander Marshall’s Tulips (1682), a marvellous painting of a macaque staring out at us wide-eyed by an anonymous 19th-century Cantonese artist, and some that document the exotic flora and fauna on Captain Cook’s voyages.

Watercolour artists often were thought of as ‘jobbing artists’ and denied the status of those working in other mediums. Some died in penury — instance Prague-born Wenceslaus Hollar (see his idealised Tangiers panorama here). In the Travel gallery watercolour’s value as a versatile travel medium is underlined; the gallery also marks the transition to watercolour painting from drawing enhanced by watercolours. Here are superb spontaneous on-the-spot landscapes by artists such as Francis Towne (Source of the Aveyron, grappling brilliantly with the scale of the Alps), and others using unusual viewpoints, like Girtin’s Crags in Bamburgh Castle, or John Sell Cotman’s On the Downs.

Turner’s Blue Rigi, Sunrise (1842) is the star of the show, however, the mountain shimmering in early morning mists hung next to Girtin’s A White House at Chelsea to illustrate the use of white in watercolour painting.

In a grey-walled room on the theme of war, Edward Burra’s responses to its horrors stand out, as do scenes by Paul Nash. Studies, too, of soldiers with facial injuries, paint recording their surgical journeys.

The final room enters contemporary territory and examines innovation, though it does have its oddities. Spontaneous works are displayed alongside the more controlled, and Alexander Cozens’ blots pictures exploring landscape via the imagination are among the most subjective. And I loved seeing the few Turner’s exquisite ‘colour beginnings’ here, as well as Patrick Heron’s eye-catching abstract January 9: 1983: II (above). There’s a large abstract by Sandra Blow too, but it’s an acrylic; is it here as a challenge?

But then Karla Black’s pink cloud of cellophane dangling at the end of the room isn’t really a watercolour either — it’s a sculpture. But that works well in the context of the show, makes a fitting end to it; light, transparent and atmospheric, it’s an incarnation of watercolour.