A BROKEN SONG, c. 1906
watercolour
signed lower left Remnants of a hand written poem by the artist from her address at Windsor Park Terrace, Belfast in 1901 accompanies this lot.Where am I from? From the green hills of Erin?Have I no song then? My songs are all sung.What of my love? Tis alone I am farin.Old grows my heart and my voice is yet going.Whilst it is only possible to trace a handful of works by Jessie Douglas, these few would indicate that she was a gifted watercolourist, in a similar vein to Rose Barton and Mildred Anne Butler. Tantalisingly little is known however, about her background, other than that she lived at 1 Windsor Park Terrace in Belfast and was a regular exhibitor with the Watercolour Society of Ireland from 1892 to 1922. The titles of her exhibited works reveal she painted regularly in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as Donegal and Connemara. Her works were hung by the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, the Society of Women Artists, the Belfast Art Society (of which she was an honorary member), the RHA and the Royal Scottish Academy among others. Her best known work, Cherry Ripe was much admired at the 1987 Irish Women Artists exhibition and is now in the collection of the Ulster Museum.
13.7 by 9.5in., 34.25 by 23.75cm.