Pictures reveal Hardy’s Wessex

Art historian Gwen Yarker found the set of pictures including preparatory drawings and oil paintings after studying the will of John Everett - a renowned 20th century artist born in the town.

She said she found the pictures in Dorset County Museum after finding Everett had bequeathed the pictures and their copyright to the museum in Dorchester.

She said: "I was curator of art at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich which has a large collection of his work - he was a very important maritime artist. I was asked to do some work on him and I read his will and discovered that he had left a portfolio of pictures relating to Hardy's Wessex that he made in 1924 to the museum."

Mrs Yarker, who lives at Charminster and is a trustee of the museum, located the pictures in two packages in a storeroom.

She said: "There I was sitting in Greenwich reading that this artist had left it all to the museum in Dorchester. I then set about a search and found the material."

She said Everett had given a set of prints - the pulls - to the museum in 1933 and they were exhibited, much to his delight.

Hardy visited Everett when the artist lived at Woolbridge Manor - one of the settings used in the writer's novels.

Everett died in 1949 and everything relating to the pictures including the original printing plates was sent to Dorchester.

Mrs Yarker believes the items were displayed in the 1950s and 1960s and then put into storage.

She said the museum knew it had the material but did not recognise its importance until her research shed light on it.

Mrs Yarker said she would be showing the pictures during a talk she is giving at the museum on Tuesday evening.

She said Everett brought many leading artists of the famous Slade School of Art - including Augustus John - to Dorset.

She said: "I want to open the debate about Dorset being a very important place for artists in the early 20th century."