Watercolours
Numerically, this section is much the largest in the Fine Art Division. We have a good representative collection of drawings and watercolours, mainly Irish and British, dating from the 17th century to the present day, including ten outstanding drawings by John Henry Fuseli, and work by Turner, John Sell Cotman, John Robert Cozens, Miles Birket Foster and many others There is a small group of Italian drawings by Polidoro da Caravaggio, Pupini and Giovanni Cipriani, and Dutch renaissance and baroque drawings.
Image: John Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), Mrs Fuseli in a Red Cap (1794).
The unique parts of this section are the 'special collections', i.e, large bodies of work by individual artists, usually with a Belfast or Ulster connexion, e.g. Andrew Nicholl ( over 300 items); Richard Dunscombe Parker ( 170 large watercolours of Irish Birds); Dr James Moore ( over 400 items); Rev Narcissus Batt ( over 550 items), Mainie Jellett ( over 200 items), Kenneth Shoesmith ( over 300 items).
Image: Kenneth Shoesmith (1890-1939), The Conway, Liverpool. Reproduced with the kind permission of the Furness Group.
Object of the Month/Kenneth Shoesmith: RMS Atlantis c.1935