Bright Phebe Caroline Eliza Clara (1 results)

Cloth. Condition: Very Good. Combining charismatic watercolors of castles amidst the English countryside with intricate botanical paintings! Folio, 38.5 by 28.5 cm. Of the 118 individual works of art, 74 are watercolors, with the remaining 44 being mostly pencil work, but also including chalk and pen and ink. Views most definitely dominate the album, with 55 of the pieces primarily views, and a good number of the 17 images we classify as architectural and of the seven depictions of ships, also views. We count 22 of the specimens as botanicals, the majority of which are delicate paintings of individual flowers similar to the color plates one might find in a botanical survey of the same date. Also, five paintings of people, and a few miscellaneous items. Some of the views and buildings rendered with place names -- Ragland, Castle Campbell, Goodrich Castle, St. Mary's in York, the Thunsee. English views are the main thing, but there are other examples of Alpine and continental scenery here as well. The overwhelming majority of works are finished, with a smattering of partially done or sketchy specimens. While clearly there were a good number of contributors, the overall quality level is high, with only a few pieces coming off as inept or sloppy. Dates are given for most of the artwork, ranging from the late 1840s to the early 1860s. There is one botanical seemingly carrying a date of 1806; we think there is a strong possiblity that this was miswritten or part of a six has disappeared. From the numerous Brights who signed the works, we would conjecture this was an album created to collect the works of that family, with perhaps contributions of a few friends added in. Phebe Bright and Mary Wallace would appear to have been the compilers and perhaps also the muses for the others. One really has to see the individual works together to get a sense of how good the collection is, of course. In our judgment, Victorian amateur art albums don't get much better than this. Rebacked sympathetically. Some soiling and fading of the boards. Not all the pieces are mounted, but we believe the loose pieces were probably always so.