GREENWICH - [?Margaret MASKELYNE (1785-1858)]. A fine watercolour study of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, 362 x 470mm., unframed; with another of Greenwich Park [?]by the same artist; and another initialled "J.W." (3)

GREENWICH - [?Margaret MASKELYNE (1785-1858)].  A fine watercolour study of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, with a distant prospect of the Thames crowded with shipping, and London beyond, including the dome of St Paul's, 362 x 470mm., unframed. Provenance: inscribed on the verso in old pencil, "Royal Observatory Greenwich as it was in 1794 drawn by [illegible name]." With another watercolour study of Greenwich Park by the same artist, with figures of deer, inscribed on the verso "Greenwich Park, [?]M. M.", 320 x 485mm., unframed; together with a third watercolour of the Greenwich Observatory initialed "J. W." and inscribed on the verso, "Flamstead [sic] House, Greenwich Park, Kent, J. W. delin. - March 7th 1805." Born in Flamsteed House, the oldest part of Greenwich Observatory, Margaret Maskelyne was the only child of the Astronomer Royal, the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811) and his wife Sophia Rose (1752-1821). From an early age she was a gifted artist. The architectural accuracy of the few surviving sketches which are held at Greenwich may have been due to her use of the camera obscura which her father had installed in the north-west turret of Flamsteed House. (3)