Lot 89: Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912)

The last sight of Mount Discovery: SS. "Morning" & "Terra Nova" following the "Discovery" out of McMurdo Strait, Feb.19.04 Midnight inscribed as title on a sheet attached to the mount watercolour on paper 43/4 x 8 1/8in. (12.1 x 20.6cm.) PROVENANCE Mrs B.H. Oldridge, Sandpits, Dursley, Gloucestershire (labels on the backing board). NOTES 'And so that night [19 February 1904], running swiftly through the water with a howling gale behind, we saw the last of the McMurdo Sound. It was a fine scene, for although the wind blew with great force, the sky was comparatively clear. Away to the south-west behind the ragged storm clouds could be seen the deep red of the setting sun, against which there stood in sharp outline the dark forms of the western mountains and the familiar cone of Mount Discovery. On our right in a gloomy threatening sky rose the lofty snow-clad slopes of Erebus and the high domed summit of Cape Bird. For the last time we gazed at all these well-known landmarks with feelings that were not far removed from sadness...' (R.F. Scott, The Voyage of the 'Discovery', London: 1907, II, pp.274-5).