seen at an exhibition that has just opened at the National Gallery.

On show for the very first time are 38 original watercolours by Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, depicting Bermuda in the 1850s, before photography was introduced to the Island.

Meticulously drawn and still retaining the full impact of their delicately sensitive colour, these works are of the highest artistic and historic interest.

It was Mr. Jay Bluck (now the Gallery Chairman) who discovered this treasure trove of "Bermudiana'' in the shop of a London art dealer back in 1973.

Realising that he had indeed stumbled upon a fantastic artistic find, he immediately bought the leather folio album in which they had been glued.

Since then, Mr. Bluck has produced 28 of the paintings as limited edition prints. Until now, however, only three of the originals have ever been exhibited in public.

"The purpose of this exhibition is to show all of the paintings for the first time, to reveal the range and quality of the entire Bermuda group,'' says Mrs.

Jean Trapido-Rosenthal, who has curated the show.

"It has actually been a bit of a detective hunt, because Le Marchant was something of a mystery man,'' she says. "So far, we have been unable to uncover any hard evidence as to when he was here in Bermuda.'' There is one important clue which does place him as having been here around 1857. A series of three paintings depict the transit of the convict ship Norman Morrison from England to Bermuda, which we know finally arrived here in January of 1857.

Also in the folio were paintings of the West Indies and Nova Scotia and, indeed, the gilt title on the volume proclaimed Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant to be "Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland 1847-1852 and Nova Scotia 1852-1857.'' Afterwards, he was made Governor of Malta and then Commander-in-Chief of Madras.

Of his period in Bermuda, however, there is, so far, absolutely no trace.

This, in spite of some extensive research by Mr. Bluck after his purchase of the works.

"In fact,'' says Mrs. Rosenthal, "we don't even have any documentary evidence that he was here at all -- although, obviously, he was!'' In preparation for this exhibition, archival resources were searched in Bermuda, Britain and Canada for clues about Le Marchant's 1850s "Bermuda period.'' To date, none have surfaced, so Mrs. Rosental would be very interested in hearing from anyone who may have any further information.

"At the moment, we don't know whether he was here in some professional capacity, or just visiting the Island. We can be fairly certain that he stayed in or around the St. George's area, not just because he painted more scenes, but because he has entitled one of his St. George's watercolours as his `Daily Walk.' So he must have been here long enough to establish the routine of a walk and he must have been based in St. George's.'' It is known that Le Marchant was born in 1803, the third son of the founder of the Royal Military College in England who was himself a distinguished artist. The family, as implied by the French name, came from Jersey and could trace its roots back to the 1300s.

It seems likely that Le Marchant, as was often the case in those pre-photography days, trained for military purposes, with emphasis on topography. The detail in his work would certainly bear this theory out, but in this collection, there are several landscapes and water scenes that obviously come from the brush of an artist who painted for the sheer love of it.

Says Mrs. Rosenthal, "There is this wonderful long, panoramic view of Dockyard painted from the Commissioner's House, which has been deemed correct by historians, so there is no doubt he could do military work. But he seemed to have become very fascinated with the scenery. Some of these views are panoramic and there's a certain visionary air of grandeur about them.'' The 38 watercolours include many St. George's scenes, the Ferry that connected Ferry Point and Coney Island, several of the eastern forts, views of Ireland Island, Gibb's Hill with its new lighthouse (and barely a house in sight), North Rock off Bermuda (when it was still a cluster of rocks), three views of Hamilton, and an unusual painting of a local pilot who is guiding an arriving ship into St. George's harbour.

"I think people will be surprised at some of the images in the show,'' she says, "partly because, in many cases, the artist was standing in locations that are no longer accessible. There is one of `St. George's from Sugar Loaf,' for instance. Now this turns out to be totally accurate, because it happens to be right across the road from where I live, by the Esso installation at Ferry Reach. I found the path that went up to the top of the hill -- and there was the exact view he had painted!'' She points out, though, that this particular watercolour provides a good example of how Le Marchant developed his landscapes: "This isn't just the view you would see if you were looking straight ahead. He has included the view from Fort St. Catherine right round to dead south, so his view actually takes in a quarter of a circle, and is much, much more than you would normally see.'' Another unusual aspect of the paintings is that so many of them were created on the water.

"He must have spent a lot of time on boats or ships, and many of the views are looking towards land. He probably did sketches on board, and then went home to finish them. He also seems to have been very interested in the weather: there are stormy seas, dark foreboding skies, sunsets with lovely pinks and skies of delicate yellow tones,'' says Mrs. Rosenthal.

Curator Mrs. Rosenthal, whose husband is a scientist with the Biological Station, has become one of the Gallery's most valued volunteers since their arrival here in May, 1993. Highly qualified, with a Masters in Art History from the University of California, Santa Barbara, she also has a wealth of experience in writing and research. For six years, she was the Publications Assistant for a series of volumes on French Lithography by Dr. Beatrice Farwell. Prior to that, she taught courses in "Introduction to Art'' and "Art in the Modern World'' at the university.

From 1988 until her arrival in Bermuda, Mrs. Rosenthal was the librarian of the St. Augustine Historical Society (the oldest town in the US), a research library for specialists and scholars.

For the Bermuda National Gallery, she started off as a docent for the African show and helped prepare written material for the Tucker Sisters exhibition.

She says her cur rent volunteer job as Registrar "just evolved'' and has continued alongside her recent curatorial challenges of presenting the mysterious Le Marchant to the Bermuda public.

BERMUDA'S DOCKYARD DAYS -- One of the original watercolours by Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant which are on show for the first time at the National Gallery. This 1850s painting of Dockyard shows one of the infamous convict hulks which brought British prisoners to work on the naval garrison.

"MY DAILY WALK'' -- This is the title given by artist Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, who painted this rural scene of St. George's during his stay on the Island.