MOUNT DISCOVERY (2) BY EDWARD ADRIAN WILSON

EDWARD ADRIAN WILSON (1872-912)

Mount Discovery (2, 681m - 8,796 ft)

Antarctica

In The Last Sight of Mount Discovery, watercolour on paper (12.1 x 20.6cm.), 1904, Private owner 

About this painting
"And so that night [19 February 1904], running swiftly through the water with a howling gale behind, we saw the last of the McMurdo Sound. It was a fine scene, for although the wind blew with great force, the sky was comparatively clear. Away to the south-west behind the ragged storm clouds could be seen the deep red of the setting sun, against which there stood in sharp outline the dark forms of the western mountains and the familiar cone of Mount Discovery. On our right in a gloomy threatening sky rose the lofty snow-clad slopes of Erebus and the high domed summit of Cape Bird. For the last time we gazed at all these well-known landmarks with feelings that were not far removed from sadness...'
(R.F. Scott, The Voyage of the 'Discovery', London: 1907, II, pp.274-5).

The mountain
Mount Discovery (2, 681m - 8,796 ft) is a conspicuous, isolated stratovolcano, lying at the head of McMurdo Sound and east of Koettlitz Glacier, overlooking the NW portion of the Ross Ice Shelf. It forms the center of a three-armed mass of which Brown Peninsula is one extension to the north; Minna Bluff is a second to the east; the third is Mount Morning to the west. It was discovered by the Discovery British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-1904) and named for their expedition ship Discovery.

The artist
Edward Adrian Wilson, nicknamed "Uncle Bill" was an English physician, polar explorer, natural historian, painter and ornithologist. Wilson took part in two British expeditions to Antarctica, the Discovery Expedition (1901-1904) and the tragic Terra Nova Expedition (1907-1912), both under the leadership of Scott.
Dr. Edward A. Wilson is widely regarded as one of the finest artists ever to have worked in the Antarctic. Sailing with Captain Scott aboard 'Discovery' (1901-1904), he became the last in a long tradition of 'exploration artists' from an age when pencil and water-colour were the main methods of producing accurate scientific records of new lands and animal species. He combined scientific, topographical and landscape techniques to produce accurate and beautiful images of the last unknown continent. Such was the strength of his work that it also helped to found the tradition of modern wildlife painting. In particular Wilson captured the essence of the flight and motion of Southern Ocean sea-birds on paper.
Returning with Captain Scott aboard 'Terra Nova' (1910-1913) as Chief of Scientific Staff, he continued to record the continent and its wildlife with extraordinary deftness. Chosen to accompany Captain Scott to the South Pole, his last drawings are from one of the most famous epic journeys in exploration history. Along with his scientific work, Wilson's pencil recorded the finding of Roald Amundsen's tent at the South Pole by Captain Scott. Wilson died, along with the other members of the British Pole Party, during the return journey, in March 1912. The drawings and paintings were created at considerable personal cost in the freezing conditions in which Wilson worked. He often suffered severely from the cold whilst sketching and also from snow-blindness, or sunburn of the eye. They provide a remarkable testament to one of the great figures of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. The book has been produced as a companion volume to 'Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks' by two of Wilson's great nephews, to mark the centenary of his death.

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