George Heriot (1759-1839)

For George Heriot's 'Drawings from Nature' taken in the West Indies in 1779-80, an album containing 61 watercolours of local flora and fauna, see Christie's London, 19 October 1999, lot 87 (£12,650). Heriot was in the West Indies for four years from 1777-1781, and also published A Descriptive Poem written in the West Indies (1781) before enrolling as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he developed his skills as a draughtsman under the drawing master Paul Sandby. He is celebrated for his work as a watercolourist in Canada between 1792 and 1816, when he worked for the Ordnance Department in Quebec and later as Deputy Postmaster General of British North America.