Subseries - Loose sketches

274 sheets of watercolour, pencil or ink sketches

The “Loose sketches” sub-series contains the majority of material in this series. It consists of pencil sketches and watercolours, most of which were drawn or painted by Elizabeth Simcoe. Most of the sketches portray Upper and Lower Canada and were sketched during the Simcoes’ stay in the Canadas, though some of the more detailed watercolours were completed after their return to England in 1796. Some contain Simcoe’s original captions and dates, while others, initialed “C.S.,” were presumably captioned by Simcoe’s daughter Charlotte during the 1840s. In a few cases, supplied captions on the backs of sketches may have been written by members of the Coles family or archivists. Other supplied caption and date information originates from John Ross Robertson’s 1911 publication of The Diary of Mrs. Simcoe.
The sketches predominantly cover the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and Niagara region. In addition, there are views of Montreal, Quebec, and the Devon and Cornwall counties in England. While the material predominantly consists of landscapes, it also includes some portraits and drawings of flowers, birds, butterflies, or fish.
A number of sketches are the work of other artists. The name “Eliza” appears on the back of 23:12, suggesting the artist was Simcoe’s daughter Eliza. 24:34–24:42 are all identified as being drawn by Lieutenant Robert Pilkington.
The sketches are arranged in chronological order, except for cases in which an additional sketch, completed later, can be found on the verso of an earlier-completed sketch. In these cases, the first date has been taken.