Dorset County Museum

There are over 6,000 watercolours, prints and drawings covering a wide range of subjects in the collection. During the eighteenth-century Dorset’s landscape and houses were recorded and observed through countless topographical paintings, drawings and prints. Through the nineteenth century this increased together with images showing natural history, architecture, social history and farming. A portfolio of pencil sketches by Dorset-born Alfred Stevens reveals the imagination and creativity of this important artist. A number of works on paper relate to Thomas Hardy and his novels, including those of William Strang and Helen Allingham. There are also several thousand watercolours by Henry Moule, a prolific nineteenth-century Dorset-born artist who constantly painted the landscape in and around Dorchester. Henry Joseph Moule was the first Curator of Dorset County Museum, and a great friend of Thomas Hardy, whom he taught to paint. The Moule collection provides a unique record of the Victorian countryside.