Ann Lee - Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

For International Women’s day RAMM welcomes guest blogger E. Geoffrey Hancock. Geoff is an Honorary Research Fellow and entomology curator at The Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow. About a year ago Geoff contacted me with an enquiry about the collection of birds and insect drawings at RAMM by Ann Lee. At the time only one of the works was available online. Now all of her works at RAMM are available to download for free at 300dpi when reproduced at A5 as part of RAMM’s Open Access project. Geoff shares he recent research:

The 79 drawings by Ann Lee (about 1753–1790) were donated to Exeter Museum in 1973 by Marjorie Lee (1888-1981), a direct descendent of the artist. Marjorie and her sister Winifred Noel Wilson (née Lee, 1892-1977) inherited drawings linked with the Lee family. They gave many of them to public institutions including Hammersmith Libraries, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. There are also 123 insect drawings in the Zoological Museum Library, St Petersburg. A few are in private collections.

Ann Lee and Sydney Parkinson

Ann was the youngest daughter of the Hammersmith nurseryman and botanist James Lee (about 1715–1795). She had access to her father’s living plant collections and his museum of pinned insects from around the world. He engaged Sydney Parkinson (about 1745-1771) to tutor his daughter in drawing at the age of 14 or 15 years old. Under his direction Ann’s work developed to produce naturalistic images. This included a shadow effect that added depth of field. Parkinson left England in 1768 to accompany Captain Cook’s first voyage on the Endeavour as an official artist. He died before the ship returned in 1772.

Goliath beetle

Her copy of Parkinson’s painting of the Goliath beetle, the original of which is in the National Library of Australia, is diagrammatic and less life-like.

Ann Lee and botanical drawing

Ann became highly regarded as an artist. Dr John Fothergill (1712-1780), a naturalist and collector, commissioned her to draw rare plants growing in his garden and preserved insects and sea shells from his museum. His name as “Dr F. Coll.” appears in three of the captions.

Brazilian diamond beetle

Ann Lee July 24 1770
CURCULIO Imperialis in Dr F Coll [Dr John Fothergill]

Study of beetles

Ann Lee Dec:r 15 1770
CERAMBYX PARDUS in Dr F Coll [Dr John Fothergill ] CARABUS MUTILLA OCCIDENTALIS L:S:N: P: 966 NO 1 [LSN = Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae]

Silk moth and butterfly

Ann Lee Nov:r 6 1770 PHALAENA PAPILIO Tritonia in Dr F Coll [Dr John Fothergill]

When Fothergill died, his herbarium and library were bought at auction for the museum of Catherine, Empress of Russia (1729-1796). Ann made exact copies of some drawings she had done for Fothergill and several are now in Exeter.

Ann’s drawings provide a resource that might identify the actual specimens of insects that she drew. Whereas the drawings went to Russia, Fothergill’s zoological collection was bequeathed to William Hunter (1718-1783), whose museum is in the University of Glasgow.