Local History

Among the items in Guernsey Museum's St John Street store is a set of natural history watercolour paintings by the island's well-known archaeologist and antiquarian Frederick Corbin Lukis.

The watercolours depict hundreds of species of sealife from the islands including the turbot (shown above and was used as the cover), wrasse, eels, pipe fish and, seahorses.

The artist lived in Guernsey all his life from 1788-1871, during which time his interests in not just archaeology and antiques but geology and cultural heritage led him to collect a remarkable archive of a huge number of items from around the world.

Lukis was the first to organise archaeological digs of the island's Neolithic passage graves and the large collection made by him and his family formed the backbone of what formed the Candie Museum when it was set up in the 1970s.

Eddie Parks went along to the St John Street store where Natural History Officer Alan Howell showed him the paintings.