Descripción
The drawings are stuck in an album with manuscript title: "Scrap book from Ballymascanlon". There are small initials in a different hand under this which appear to read (?) H.F.McC. The drawings are in pencil, ink, & water colour. They range in size from approx. 6.5 x 3.5 inches (16.5 x 9 cms. approx.) to 23.75 x 7.25 inches approx (60 x 18.5 cms. approx). Each drawing is stuck at the corner and few have torn at the corners and a small number have occasional stains. A few are loose. None are signed, but all are captioned under each image in black ink in a neat hand, different to the hand of the person who initialed the scrap book at the beginning. Among the images are Chateau de Rauchenstein Baden, Austria; a number of views of Nice, Chamouni, France; the descent into Finale, Italy; Napl;es from Capo Di Monti, Rome from Monte Mario, Vallombrosa Monastery, Camaldoli Hermitage, Naples, Castel a Mara, Castle a Mare, View near Sorrento, Florence from San Miniato, Ponte all Caraja, Florence, Genoa, Pont a Mare & Lung Arno, Pisa, numerous images of Rome, Lucca, Italy; St. Helena Valley & other scenes, numerous around Baden Baden in Austria; Zurich, Chateau de Chillon, Geneva from the Lyons Road, Berne, Lausanne, Via Mala, Switzerland & more. Wonderful collection. Plunket, Katharine (1820-1932), botanical and landscape painter, was born 22 November 1820 at Kilsaran rectory, Co. Louth, the eldest of five daughters of Thomas Span Plunket (1792-1866), protestant curate of the parish, later bishop of Tuam, Killala, and Achonry, and 2nd baron Plunket, and Louisa Jane Plunket (née Foster) (d. 1893), daughter of John William Foster (1749-1809), collector of the port of Drogheda and MP for Dunleer (1783-90), first cousin to John Foster, last speaker of the Irish house of commons; Katharine was first cousin to William Conyngham Plunket, 4th baron Plunket and archbishop of Dublin. From young womanhood she travelled extensively in Ireland, Britain, and the European continent, and painted landscapes and wildflowers in many widely dispersed locations. She was briefly embroiled in the so-called ?war of Partry? on her family's Co. Mayo estate, arising from the efforts of her father, a proselytising evangelical, to induce the children of catholic tenants to attend protestant mission schools; during her father's absence from the area, she thrice brought the catholic parish priest, Patrick Lavelle. to court over a row arising from an allegedly sectarian-based eviction, but failed to obtain a conviction (1862). Resident at Ballymascanlan house, near Dundalk, for many years she also kept a London residence at 64 Eaton Pl. For a short period (1881-06) she exhibited watercolours of landscapes in the Alps and elsewhere at the Society of Women Artists in London, some of which entered private collections. In 1903 she presented to the Dublin Museum of Science and Art (latterly the National Museum of Ireland) a bound leather volume of botanical paintings executed over many years in collaboration with her sister Frederica (d. 1886). Labelled ?Wild flowers, painted from nature?, the volume comprises exactly 1,200 watercolour illustrations of petaloid plants, each executed on tinted card paper, mounted eight to the page, and arranged by biological family, genus, and species. As the pieces are unsigned, attribution of individual paintings to one or the other of the sisters is problematical, though some which are dated after Frederica's death are obviously the work of Katharine. Though the artistic quality varies considerably the rich colour, but limited palette, best serves the more brilliantly hued species, they are of considerable scientific interest, being botanically correct, sensitive to the character of each species, and allowing for comparison of related species. The geographical range is considerable, including numerous locations. N° de ref. del artículo 015329
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