Apollonia Griffith Banquet Hall, Raglan Castle, Monmouthshire

Apollonia Griffith: Watercolours 1833–1847

This picture is one of a beautiful collection of works by Apollonia Griffith that we have for sale, spanning the period 1833 to 1847. The subjects are predominantly picturesque landscape views around Brittany, along with some locations in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Gloucestershire, as well as a number of small personal portraits relating to the Griffith family. The works are mainly executed in watercolour wash overlaid with pen and ink, making for a particularly fine combination of colour, atmosphere and architectural and narrative detail. The skill of the draughtsmanship is certainly compatible with our artist being talented in lithography, and there is an original artist's proof lithograph within the collection.

Apollonia Griffith was one of three sisters to William Griffith, born to the London merchant Thomas Griffith of Ham Common. The children were brought up in an educated household and William studied medicine at London University, where his botanical interests developed. William was a forceful and charismatic character, and the fortunes of the family were somewhat resting on his shoulders. In 1832 he joined the East India Company as an assistant surgeon at Madras, and it is for his remarkable contributions to Indian botany that he is most celebrated. After trips to Bhutan and Afghanistan, he took up charge of Calcutta Botanic Garden in 1842. Only three years later, however, he was to die at Malacca of hepatitis, leaving behind a widow, young child and three maiden sisters.

The majority of the works in this collection predate William's death, but there are two poignant pictures dating from 1845, showing Malacca—on which Apollonia writes 'where dear William died & was buried'—and showing the cenotaph commemorating William in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta. On his deathbed William asked fellow botanist Mr McClelland to sort through and publish his manuscript papers, and it is through these posthumous memoirs that Griffith's work is so widely known and celebrated. The role of his sister is also praised in the introduction to the memoirs: 'he was not himself the only member of the family who would appear to have inherited something of his grandfather’s peculiar art, as we owe the transfer of the landscapes to stone, which add so much to the appearance of the following volume, to the talent and kindness of his sister'.

The collection was accompanied by a paper inscribed 'Grandfather Meyer & Grandmother Meyer', which we have pictured for information only.