Lot 82: George Mounsey Atkinson (c.1830-1884) MIRIAM oil

George Mounsey Atkinson (c.1830-1884) MIRIAM oil on canvas signed with initials lower right beneath the mount 39 by 29cm., 15.5 by 11.5in. George Mounsey Atkinson was the eldest son of the marine painter from Co. Cork, George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, and brother of Richard Peterson, Robert and Sarah Atkinson, all of whom were also artists. However, of all George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson's children, the most outstanding artist was his namesake. George Mounsey, who for many years was Art Examiner at South Kensington, was also according to Walter Strickland "an ardent student of Irish archaeology", contributing papers to the Journal of the Royal Society of Irish Antiquaries, and also editing the Cork architect Richard Rolt Brash's Ogham Inscribed Monuments of Gaedhil, published in London in 1879. George Mounsey died at his home in West Brompton, London, in 1908.In biblical history Miriam is known as a prophetess and is traditionally believed to have composed a short victory song following the drowning of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea, "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."