Botanical illustrator
Encyclopedia
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Botanical illustration
Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, colour, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolour paintings. These are often printed with a botanical description in book, magazines, and other media...
subjects such as trees and flowers. The job requires great artistic skill, attention to fine detail, and technical botanical knowledge. Typical illustrations will be in watercolour, in life size, or if not, the scale shown, and show face and reverse of leaves, flowers, bud, seed and root system.
Botanical illustration is sometimes used as a type
Biological type
In biology, a type is one particular specimen of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached...
for attribution of a botanical name
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
to a taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
. The ability of botanists to conserve a dried specimens, or restrictions in safe transport, has meant illustrations have been nominated as the type for that name. Many minute plants, which may only be viewed under a microscope, are often identified by an illustration to overcome the difficulties in using slide mounted specimens. The standards for this are by international agreement (Art 37.5 of the Vienna Code, 2006).
History
The use of illustrations was frequently seen in the herbals, seed catalogues and popular works of natural history. The illustrations produced during the eighteenth and nineteenth century are regarded as both appealing and scientifically valid. The finer detail of the printing processes, greatly improving at this time, allowed artists such as FranzFranz Bauer
Franz Andreas Bauer was an Austrian microscopist and botanical artist.Born in Feldsberg, Moravia , he was the son of Lucas Bauer , court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein, and brother of the painters Josef Anton and Ferdinand Bauer...
and Ferdinand Bauer
Ferdinand Bauer
Ferdinand Lucas Bauer was an Austrian botanical illustrator who travelled on Matthew Flinders' expedition to Australia.-Biography:...
to depict the minute aspects of the subject. The use of exploded details would further illustrate the description given in the accompanying text. These details allowed a non scientific audience to go some way in identifying the species, the widening interest in natural history and horticulture was an inducement to the production of many Flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
s and regular publications.
Many books and publication continued to use the illustrators, even after printed matter began to incorporate photography. It would be many years before the colour printing would equal the illustrators plates. The accuracy and craft of the illustrators had developed in tandem with the botanists concerned, the work came to be accepted as important to the botanists and their institutions. The illustrated publication, Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Curtis's Botanical Magazine
The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name Curtis's Botanical Magazine....
(1787), was to eventually appoint an official artist. The 220 year old magazine, long associated with the Linnaean Society and Kew Gardens, is now primarily one of finer botanical illustration. A stream of the finest illustrators to appear in print have been featured in the magazine.
The contribution of botanical illustrators continues to be praised and sought, very fine examples continue to be produced. In the 1980s, Celia Rosser
Celia Rosser
Celia Elizabeth Rosser is a renowned Australian botanical illustrator, best known for having published The Banksias, a three-volume series of monographs containing watercolour paintings of every Banksia species....
undertook to illustrate every Banksia species for the masterwork, The Banksias
The Banksias
The Banksias, by Celia Rosser, is a three-volume series of monographs containing paintings of every Banksia species. Its publication represented the first time such a large genus had been entirely painted by a single botanical artist. It has been described as "one of the outstanding botanical works...
. When another species was described after its publication, Banksia rosserae
Banksia rosserae
Banksia rosserae is a recently described species of Banksia. Endemic to inland Western Australia, it is the only Banksia species to occur solely within the arid zone.-Description:...
, it was named to honour her mammoth accomplishment. Other illustrators, such as the profuse illustrator Matilda Smith
Matilda Smith
Matilda Smith was a botanical illustrator whose work appeared in Curtis's Botanical Magazine for over forty years.The long running journal required a dedicated illustrator, and when Joseph Hooker sought a replacement, his second cousin Matilda Smith was inducted to become Kew's Botanical illustrator...
, have been specifically honoured for this work.
Famous illustrators
Famous botanical illustrators include:- Alois AuerAlois AuerAlois Auer, born 1813 in Wels, Austria, died 11 June 1869; was a printer, inventor and botanical illustrator, most active during the 1840s and 1850s. He produced a number of works in German and other languages, including the first regarding the nature printing process. He was the director of the...
- James Andrew
- Elizabeth Blackwell (illustrator)Elizabeth Blackwell (illustrator)Elizabeth Blackwell , was a Scottish botanical illustrator and author. She achieved fame as a botanical illustrator, and was both artist and engraver for the plates of "A Curious Herbal", published between 1737 and 1739...
- Ferdinand BauerFerdinand BauerFerdinand Lucas Bauer was an Austrian botanical illustrator who travelled on Matthew Flinders' expedition to Australia.-Biography:...
- Franz BauerFranz BauerFranz Andreas Bauer was an Austrian microscopist and botanical artist.Born in Feldsberg, Moravia , he was the son of Lucas Bauer , court painter to the Prince of Liechtenstein, and brother of the painters Josef Anton and Ferdinand Bauer...
- Harry Bolus
- Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano
- Priscilla Susan BuryPriscilla Susan BuryPriscilla Susan Bury, born Falkner , was an English botanist and illustrator.Daughter of a rich Liverpool merchant, she married on 4 March 1830 Edward Bury , a noted railway engineer. Working with amateur botanist William Roscoe , she published in 1831-1834 A Selection of Hexandrian Plants...
- Gillian CondyGillian CondyGillian Condy, born 5 December 1952 Nairobi, is a South African botanical artist. She has illustrated over 200 plates for , contributed to various other publications and 8 plates for . She has illustrated two books by Charles Craib, Geophytic Pelargoniums and Grass Aloes in the South African Veld...
- Dioscorides
- Sydenham EdwardsSydenham EdwardsSydenham Teast Edwards was a natural history illustrator.Edwards was born in 1768 in Usk, Monmouthshire, the son of Lloyd Pittell Edwards, a schoolmaster and organist, and his wife, Mary Reese, who had been married on 26 September 1765 at Llantilio Crossenny Church and where Sydenham was...
- Georg Dionysius EhretGeorg Dionysius EhretGeorg Dionysius Ehret was a botanist and entomologist, and is best known for his botanical illustrations.Ehret was born in Germany to Ferdinand Christian Ehret, a gardener and competent draughtsman, and Anna Maria Ehret. Beginning his working life as a gardener's apprentice near Heidelberg, he...
- Anne-Marie Evans
- Barbara EverardBarbara EverardBarbara Mary Steyning Everard was a botanical illustrator whose work encompassed books, private commissions, botanical publications, gardening magazines, greetings cards and commemorative plates.-Early life:...
- Walter Hood FitchWalter Hood FitchWalter Hood Fitch was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications...
- Frances W. Horne
- Barbara JeppeBarbara JeppeBarbara Jeppe was a South African botanical artist.Born in the mining town of Pilgrim's Rest, she was the daughter of Victor Brereton, a land-surveyor, and Gladys Evans. At an early age her mother introduced her to the world of wild flowers.She was married to Carl Louis Jeppe, a psychiatrist...
- Kawahara Keiga
- Cythna LettyCythna LettyCythna Lindenberg Letty , was a South African botanical artist and is regarded as a doyenne of South African botanical art by virtue of the quality and quantity of her meticulously executed paintings and pencil sketches, produced over a period of 40 years with the National Herbarium in...
- Christine Marais
- Margaret MeeMargaret MeeMargaret Ursula Mee, MBE was a British botanical artist who specialized in plants from the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. She was also one of the first environmentalists to draw attention to the impact of large-scale mining and deforestation on the Amazon Basin.-Early life:Margaret Ursula Brown was...
- Philippa NikulinskyPhilippa NikulinskyPhilippa Nikulinsky, born in 1942, is an artist and botanical illustrator based in Western Australia.-Biography:Nikulinsky was born in Kalgoorlie in 1942, a remote region in central Western Australia. She began working as an illustrator of natural history in the mid 1970s, specialising in plants...
- Marianne NorthMarianne NorthMarianne North was an English naturalist and botanical artist-Life with her parents:Marianne North was born at Hastings, the eldest daughter of a prosperous land-owning family descended from the Hon. Roger North, younger son of Dudley North, 4th Baron North...
- Sydney ParkinsonSydney ParkinsonSydney Parkinson was a Scottish Quaker, botanical illustrator and natural history artist.Parkinson was employed by Joseph Banks to travel with him on James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific in 1768. Parkinson made nearly a thousand drawings of plants and animals collected by Banks and Daniel...
- Jenny Phillips Botanical ArtistJenny Phillips Botanical ArtistJenny Phillips is recognised as one of the world's premier botanical artists, and the founding director of the Botanical Art School of Melbourne....
- Pierre-Joseph RedoutéPierre-Joseph RedoutéPierre-Joseph Redouté , was a Belgian painter and botanist, known for his watercolours of roses, lilies and other flowers at Malmaison. He was nicknamed "The Raphael of flowers"....
- Lewis Roberts (naturalist)Lewis Roberts (naturalist)Lewis Roberts, OAM, is a distinguished naturalist and botanical illustrator. Lewis and his brother, Charlie Roberts, are probably the leading experts on the flora and fauna of south-eastern part Cape York Peninsula and the northern Wet Tropics area...
- Celia RosserCelia RosserCelia Elizabeth Rosser is a renowned Australian botanical illustrator, best known for having published The Banksias, a three-volume series of monographs containing watercolour paintings of every Banksia species....
- Ellis RowanEllis RowanMarian Ellis Rowan , known as Ellis Rowan, was a well-known Australian botanical illustrator. She also did series of illustrations on birds, butterflies and insects....
- Vera Scarth-JohnsonVera Scarth-JohnsonVera Scarth-Johnson, , was a noted botanist and botanical illustrator who is also remembered for her continual efforts to teach others to treasure the flora and environment of Australia and, in particular, the botanically rich region of Cooktown and the Endeavour River Valley, on Cape York...
- Jill Smythies
- Matilda SmithMatilda SmithMatilda Smith was a botanical illustrator whose work appeared in Curtis's Botanical Magazine for over forty years.The long running journal required a dedicated illustrator, and when Joseph Hooker sought a replacement, his second cousin Matilda Smith was inducted to become Kew's Botanical illustrator...
- Pandora Sellars
- James SowerbyJames SowerbyJames Sowerby was an English naturalist and illustrator. Contributions to published works, such as A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland or English Botany, include his detailed and appealing plates...
- Elizabeth TwiningElizabeth TwiningElizabeth Twining was an English botanical illustrator.-Biography and drawing:Elizabeth was born in 1805 into the Twinings tea merchant family, one of the nine children of Richard Twining and his wife Elizabeth Mary Smythies. Raised in a privileged area of London, she learned art and drawing as...
- Ellaphie Ward-HilhorstEllaphie Ward-HilhorstJohanna Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst was a noted South African botanical artist.She received her early education in Pretoria. After matriculating from Pretoria Girls' High School she started work in 1939 as a cartographer in the Survey Department of the Witwatersrand Gold Mines...
The Linnaean Society of London awards the Jill Smythies Award for botanical illustration.
Further reading
- de Bray, Lys (2001). The Art of Botanical Illustration: A history of classic illustrators and their achievements. Quantum Publishing Ltd., London. ISBN 1-86160-425-4.