A lively and beautiful album. Watercolours of the Bahamas are uncommon from this period.
Captain Andrew Scott Jr. (1798-1888) was a native of Portland, Maine. A seafarer and trader he moved in mid-century to Flushing New York, where he is listed in the 1850 census as a ship’s captain with real estate value of $1500. He travelled widely and made small watercolour sketches whenever he could, a trait continued by his daughter Catherine “Kate” Parker Scott Boyd (1836-1922). In his early years, Scott served on the Enterprise during the War of 1812, and was aboard when she came into port with her captured prize HMS Boxer.
One of the watercolours in this album is signed by Kate, a delicate greyscale study of Nassau women “picking over wrecked cotton”. This unusual image brings to life what is almost certainly the practice of cargo salvage after a shipwreck, a Bahamian tradition dating back to the earliest days of colonisation, and a mainstay of the economy into the nineteenth century. For context, in the year 1856, three years before this painting was made, the total salvaged cargo brought into Nassau was valued at £96,304, and constituted more than two thirds of the goods exported from the islands.
Amongst the other topographical watercolours there are several colourful views which give a fine impression of this bustling Caribbean port. In particular, a waterfront scene shows throngs of people gathered in the street, and another ocean view presents a horizon busy with sails. Architectural landmarks like Government House, Fort Fincastle and Fort Charlotte are featured, along with a lovely image of the Nassau Light House, shown in the “Storm of Oct 26 1858”. There are several street views, as well as beach and landscapes, and a particularly handsome composition of Shirley Street showing large established residences with shuttered windows.
The latter portion of this album concerns the natural history of the Bahamas, with many fine and detailed studies of indigenous flowers, often with notes concerning size, colour and classification. The painting of the “night belle” for example, has a pencil observation to one side commenting “petals more like thin muslin or lace”. The final two images of this series show the more lively side of Caribbean nature, with a hairy and life-like tarantula, as well as a study of a “snake nut”. The latter is a probably brosimum alicastrum, also known as the Maya nut.
A full list of captions:
1. “Silk Cotton Tree Nassau. N.P. Bahamas (+ flower beneath this)” [the flower is painted on the verso]
2. “Nassau -/57”
3. “Fort Charlotte Nassau Bahamas about 1860 (when nearly blind)”
4. “Nassau March 4th 1857 Bahamas”
5. “Nassau Light House Storm of October 26th 1858. Height 70 feet above water”
6. “Street Nassau 1889” [surely 1859?]
7. “Cotton tree Nassau N.P. Bahamas.”
8. “Picking over wrecked cotton at Nassau, Bahamas, by Kate P Scott 1859”
9. “East view from Hog I[sland] Nassau”
10. “Government Houses Nassau 1859”
11. “East beach, Nassau Bahamas”
12. “Fort Fincastle, Nassau”
13. “Nassau from Ft. Fincastle”
14. “Shirley Street Nassau Bahamas”
15. “Pigeon berry wild in Nassau 1850”
16. “Shell flower stalk & flower 12 inches”
17. “Sandbox male & female”
18. “Gloriosa Superba”
19. “Christmas flower Nassau Jany 59”
20. “Night belle Bella Noctis Nassau Jany /59 or spomea petals more like thin muslin or lace”
21. “Gov’r Grants livery Nassau Euphorbia Nassari”
22. “shell plant (too pink)”
23. “Erythrymen[?] more scarlet Nassau Coral”
24. “Aloe Nassau Nov/58 30 feet high”
25. “Star of Bethlehem Nassau” [24 and 25 are on the same page]
26. “SPIDER NASSAU 1858 body 2 1/4 inches legs 3 - Tarantula”
27. “Snake nut Nassau from Jamaica. Seed, when ripe, snake stretches out and bursts the shell.”
