Sketch of a river

Unfinished sketch with graphite and watercolour of a bend in a river with a tree in the foreground and a hill in the distance. A small sailing vessel is visible in the distance. The sketch is drawn on the inside back cover of an album containing fifty-seven drawings (PAH4886–PAH4943) created by British naval officer Aiskew Paffard Hollis (1764–1844) during the late 1780s and the 1790s. The majority relate to his service as a lieutenant in ‘Pegase’ in 1785–90, in ‘Andromeda’ in 1790–93 and in ‘Queen’ in 1793–96. Included are portraits of Hollis’s shipmates, often with humorous captions, as well as scenes of everyday life ashore and afloat.