Collection of 30 watercolour drawings of 200 exotic butterflies

Description:

A collection of 30 unmounted watercolour drawings by the artist Annie M. Dannatt, (Exh. 1909-11) who attended the Blackheath School of Art (briefly mentioned in Arts & Crafts Magazine Vol 1-2, 1904) and is associated with the Newlyn school. One drawing is signed, the collection undated, c. 1930's The drawings are probably studies associated with the extensive butterfly collection of the entomologist, Walter Dannatt, (1863-1940) of Lee (Blackheath, London). Walter Dannatt collected butterflies from Jamaica and the Amazons, and amassed a vast collection of over 18,000 specimens. The drawings may record specimens as arranged in collection drawers, supplemented with a few drawings of species annotated as not being present in the specimen collection, but illustrated from publications for reference purposes. 29 drawings of uniform size (370x255mm), one smaller (250x208mm).

Provenance. From the library of the entomologist Michael Dickens, once owner of the Butterfly Farm in Bilsington, near Ashford Kent. The business was originally established by Leonard Woods Newman (1873-1949) as the Butterfly Farm at Bexley, Kent during 1894, and expanded by his son L. Hugh Newman.

Condition

30 watercolour drawings housed in a portfolio. Most with pencil annotations. Marginal soiling to some drawings, ten with a fold mark to a blank area, not affecting the images. One drawing has a faint smudge of pink pigment on part of the paper.The small drawing is foxed.