More than 300 watercolours from the island’s national art collection have joined public and private collections from around the world to create a free website of watercolours painted before and around 1900.

Paintings of the landscape, buildings and people of the Isle of Man by artists including Archibald Knox, Robert Evans Creer and John Miller Nicholson are available to enjoy at www.watercolourworld.org/collection/manx-national-heritage, in addition to www.imuseum.im

MNH collections information manager Jude Dicken said: ’It’s exciting to share these watercolours online.

’Being able to compare the island’s coastal and rural landscapes with watercolours of the industrial North painted around the same time is new and will arouse more interest in these unique artworks of the Isle of Man.

’We also like to think that seeing these works will further inspire today’s watercolourists to continue to capture and record the Isle of Man.’

The Watercolour World is the brainchild of Fred Hohler, a British former diplomat who founded the Public Catalogue Foundation in 2002, which photographed and published over 200,000 oil paintings in public ownership in Britain for the first time, including those held by MNH.

On The Watercolour World website a map is included with each painting showing the location of each watercolour.

Visitors with local or historical information can leave a comment on the images.

The charity’s chief executive, Andra Fitzherbert, said: ’The Watercolour World is enabling a re-evaluation of the documentary record contained in watercolours before the age of photography. Already watercolours included on the site have been used as a record to map coastal erosion and heritage sites.’

Anyone with a pre-1900 watercolour they believe would be a useful addition should contact [email protected]

Oil paintings from the national art collection already appear on the Art UK website.