Elizabeth Ann Briscoe (British, 1780-1842)
Study of blossom

signed and dated 'E Briscoe, 1821' (lower right)
watercolour
Unframed: 41.4 x 31.5 cm. (16 1/4 x 12 3/8 in.) Framed: 57 x 44.3 cm. (22 1/2 x 17 3/8 in.)

Recently identified artist Elizabeth Ann Briscoe lived in Bombay from 1805 to 1813, before relocating to London and later New Brunswick, where she died in 1842. She exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1800 and was closely connected to Joseph Banks.

Born Elizabeth Ann Lawrance, she was the sister of Mary Lawrance (Kearse), a leading botanical illustrator of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She was also the daughter-in-law of Peter Briscoe, who accompanied Joseph Banks on three expeditions and was one of only four survivors from Banks’s original party of nine on the Endeavour voyage of 1768.

The Briscoe family maintained a strong relationship with Banks, who offered them considerable support. Following their return from Bombay, after Elizabeth’s husband had been convicted of corruption, Banks intervened on their behalf, supporting Briscoe’s appeal to King George for a pardon. He also successfully lobbied Prime Minister Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, and later provided the family with an annuity through a codicil to his will in 1820.