Hidden artwork found at Exeter Museum

13 June 2019, 10:44 | Updated: 13 June 2019, 10:54

The watercolour was found hidden beneath another piece of art.

Conservators at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery have uncovered a watercolour by the Devon artist Albert Moulton Foweraker.

It was found hidden beneath another painting by the same artist, called Palma, Majorca, which has been in the collection at the museum for over 100 years.

They were removing the piece from the backing board to preserve it, when they made the discovery.

Curator Michele Green said “It is thrilling to be the first to set eyes on this painting for 100 years. The painting is exquisite. It has all the characteristics of Foweraker’s Impressionistic style and demonstrates his skill in depicting the effects of light upon the landscape."

Foweraker was educated at Exeter Cathedral School, then Christ’s College Cambridge. He was awarded a degree in applied science in 1893 and later qualified as a milling engineer. He worked both as an engineer and journalist in Exeter and occasionally would work as a science demonstrator at Exeter Technical College.

In 1898 he took up art professionally and moved to West Cornwall to Lelant near Carbis Bay, where he became a teacher of watercolour at the Cornish school of landscape and sea painting in St Ives.

Both pieces will be on display at the museum for A Sense of Place, a new fine art exhibition running from 18th June until 15th March 2020.