A Bermudian archaeologist has unveiled a book chronicling the work spanning decades of a globe-trotting family of artists who visited Bermuda and captured life on the island.

Edward Harris and Ian Robinson completed Fanshawe Legacy, Three Generations and their Art after ten years of research.

The pair hosted a book launch last Tuesday, where they signed copies of their work at the Bermuda National Gallery in Hamilton

Dr Harris said: “Doing something like this is really an adventure.

“It’s an adventure, travelling in time and bringing things together for people’s enjoyment in the present.”

Fanshawe Legacy lists more than 200 illustrations of Bermuda and other parts of the world, all done by members of a military family that travelled extensively in the 1800s.

Their illustrations also featured the West Indies, Canada, Britain and the Far East.

Dr Harris said he first became curious about the Fanshawe paintings after he helped investigate an album of unattributed paintings in Bermuda.

The paintings, he explained, were discovered to have been made by Alice Fanshawe, the daughter of a British admiral.

Dr Harris said he uncovered more of Ms Fanshawe’s paintings during a trip to the UK and learnt that her father, an admiral, and his father, a general, all visited Bermuda — during which time they created more artwork.

He said: “All of a sudden, we had three generations of this one family who had done artistic work related to Bermuda and a number of places around the world.”

Dr Harris said that each chapter focused on a country and detailed the history behind the paintings associated with it.

He compared the project to detective work because of his reliance on leads to identify paintings and where they came from.

Dr Harris said he wanted to give people an idea of what life was like in the mid-19th century.

He added: “What you’re trying to do is put together a story of part of these people’s lives in various places and make some sort of chronology and coherent sense of it, so this all takes time. It’s not a straightforward process.

“In some way, what you’re looking for is the truth of the situation, so it’s a quest for knowledge.”

Mr Robertson said he had been brought on board in 2019 after a curiosity became a fascination.

He explained that Dr Harris asked him for input on paintings of Scotland made by Admiral Fanshawe.

Mr Robertson said: “I could immediately identify the paintings, but what I didn’t want to do was just give him a Wikipedia-lite caption.”

Mr Robertson said that he studied why the admiral was in Scotland when he completed the painting and became “hooked on Fanshawe”, to the point where he wrote seven of the book’s 13 chapters.

He said: “I realised that he had actually lived and operated in areas of the world where I had lived and worked, such as Borneo.”

Mr Robertson added: “I feel proud to have been one of the contributors to this.

“The other strong feeling I have is one of great pleasure that I’ve been able to get to know Edward, learn from him and count him as a friend. I think that’s a great privilege in life.”

Fanshawe Legacy was sold for $30 to those who signed up for a copy through the writers’ mailing list.

Half of the proceeds from the sales went to the Bermuda National Gallery, while the rest went to a British museum dedicated to the Fanshawe family.