Four views of Bristol: View of St. Mary Redcliffe Church, near the sea banks, Bristol; View of the Avon and Bristol Channel; View of Clifton Hill from sea banks, near Bristol; and View of the Hotwell, Bristol (all illustrated)

Born in Bristol in 1740, Nicholas Pocock was a practised and accomplished watercolourist. After an apprenticeship in the Bristol shipbuilding yard of Richard Champion, he began his career at sea. When in command of one of Champion's ship the Lloyd, he kept detailed log books illustrated with meticulous wash drawings. After abandoning his seafaring life (c.1776-1782), he turned to painting maritime subjects and views in and around his native Bristol. His favourite subject was the River Avon and it was during this time that Pocock produced a series of watercolours of Bristol, stylistically close to Edward Dayes, and made a series of eight aquatint engravings of the same subject (many of which are held in the collection of The City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery). He exhibited at the Royal Academy (1782-1812) and in 1804, he was one of the founder members of the Society of Painters in Watercolours exhibiting regularly at the annual exhibitions of the society. He was also commissioned to illustrate the 1804 and 1781 editions of William Falconer's epic poem The Shipwreck and contributed more than sixty plates to The Naval Chronicle between 1799 and 1813. He died in Maidenhead in 1821.