Nicolas Gallery

'The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up...', mid 19th century

'The same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened', mid 19th century. Biblical scene, from Moses 7: 11: 'And after seven days the floodwaters came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights'. God sends a flood - the only human survivors on Earth are Noah and his family. The rest of the population try desperately to escape the rising floodwaters, but are destined to drown. Engraving after 'Winter (The Flood)', a painting made c1660 by Nicolas Poussin, in a series depicting the Four Seasons, in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

© The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'French XVIIIth century cabinet', c1950. Creator: Shirley Markham

'French XVIIIth century cabinet with gilt decoration and marble top', c1950. Painting above by Nicholas Lancret. Shirley Markham (1931-1999) studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central School of Art in London from 1950-1952. The writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was one of her tutors, and her style of drawing was also influenced by other British illustrators such as Edward Ardizzone, Quentin Blake and Edward Bawden. Markham spent time in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, and also visited Rome, sketching classical buildings. After graduating from Central, she worked as a graphic designer, producing book illustrations, cartoons for comics, menus and programmes. She gave up her promising career however when she got married in 1957. Middle-class women at that time were expected to devote their energies to bringing up children and running the home, and despite her obvious talent, she lacked the confidence to return to illustration. Her portfolio remained in the family attic for many years, but now her work is published here for the first time.

© Shirley Markham Collection / Heritage-Images

'The Ages of Man - Manhood', c1710-1740, (1910). Artist: Nicolas Lancret

'The Ages of Man - Manhood', c1710-1740, (1910). From series 'The Four Ages of Man', third in a series of four canvases, showing two archers and women in a woodland setting. Lancret was one of the chief followers of Watteau in early 18th-century France, producing fetes galantes and conversation pieces for which he received considerable acclaim. Oil on Canvas. From The Connoisseur Vol XXVI. [Otto Limited, London, 1910]

© The Print Collector