Ellis Rowan
Encyclopedia
Botanical illustrator
A botanical illustrator is a person who paints, sketches or otherwise illustrates botanical subjects such as trees and flowers. The job requires great artistic skill, attention to fine detail, and technical botanical knowledge...
. She also did series of illustrations on birds, butterflies and insects.
Marian, the daughter of Marian and Charles Ryan, principal of stock agents Ryan and Hammond, was born at "Killeen" near Longwood, Victoria
Longwood, Victoria
Longwood is a town in northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Strathbogie Local government area, from the state capital, Melbourne...
, one of her father's pastoral stations
Station (Australian agriculture)
Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...
in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. Her family was well-connected: sister Ada Mary married Admiral Lord Charles Scott, son of the Duke of Buccleuch; brother Sir Charles Ryan was a noted Melbourne surgeon and for a time Turkish consul in London (and whose daughter became Baroness Casey).
She was educated at Miss Murphy's private school in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, and in 1873 married Captain Charles Rowan, who had fought in the New Zealand wars. Her husband was interested in botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
and he encouraged her to paint wild flowers. She had had no training but working conscientiously and carefully in water-colour; her work is noted for being botanically informative as well as artistic. Rowan returned to Melbourne in 1877, and for many years travelled in Australia painting the flora of the country, at times in the company of her painting companion, Margaret Forrest
Margaret Forrest
Lady Forrest , born Margaret Elvire Hamersley, was the wife of Sir John Forrest. Born in Le Havre, France, she was a member of the prominent and wealthy Hamersley family; her father was Edward Hamersley , and amongst her brothers were Edward Hamersley and Samuel Hamersley...
. She published in 1898 A Flower-Hunter in Queensland and New Zealand, largely based on letters to her husband and friends.
About this time she went to North America and provided the illustrations, many in colour, to A Guide to the Wild Flowers, by Alice Lounsberry
Alice Lounsberry
Alice Lounsberry was an American botanist and author active in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
, published in New York in 1899 as well as Guide to the Trees (1900), and Southern Wild Flowers and Trees (1901) also by Lounsberry. It was while in America, traveling with Lounsberry, that Rowan received news that her son Russell (called "Puck") had been killed in the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
. In 1905 she held a successful exhibition in London. She returned to Australia and held exhibitions of her work which sold at comparatively high prices. In 1916 she made a trip to New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, the first of several during which she produced a huge volume of illustrations. She contracted malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
during these journeys. In 1920 she held the largest solo exhibition seen in Australia at the time, when she exhibited 1000 of her works in Sydney. She died at Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
, Victoria, her husband and her only son having died many years earlier.
Several accounts of her career have been published including:
- Australia's Brilliant Daughter Ellis Rowan: Artist, Naturalist, Explorer 1848–1922 (1984) by Margaret HazzardMargaret HazzardMargaret Hazzard is an Australian author native to Norfolk Island.In 1970 Hazzard formed the Victorian Branch of the Society of Women Writers and was elected chair from 1970-74...
. ISBN 0-909104-73-5 - Flower Paintings of Ellis Rowan from the Collection of the National Library of Australia (1982) by M. HazzardMargaret HazzardMargaret Hazzard is an Australian author native to Norfolk Island.In 1970 Hazzard formed the Victorian Branch of the Society of Women Writers and was elected chair from 1970-74...
and H. Hewson. ISBN 0-642-89730-1 - Ellis Rowan: A Flower-Hunter in Queensland (1990) by J. McKay. ISBN 0-7242-3847-6
- The Flower Hunter: Ellis Rowan (2002) by Patricia Fullerton. ISBN 0-642-10760-2
- Wild Flower Hunter--the story of Ellis Rowan (1961) by her niece, H. J. (Helen Jo) Samuel.
Rowan Street in the Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
suburb of Cook
Cook, Australian Capital Territory
Cook is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Cook is in the district of Belconnen. On Census night 2006, Cook had a population of 2,817 people....
is named in her honour.
In 1923, a year after her death, her surviving collection of 952 paintings was offered to the Australian government by her estate. The offer was debated in the House of Representatives. Parliament eventually agreed on a price of 5000 pounds for the paintings, half the asking price, and they became the property of the Australian Commonwealth. The collection was stored in the vaults of the Federal Treasury in Melbourne until 1933, when custody was transferred to the Commonwealth National Library. The paintings are now housed at the National Library of Australia. A further fifty-two paintings are held at the Queensland Museum. The Australian Club in Melbourne, one of that city's oldest and most venerable establishments, has a room with the walls entirely covered in murals by her, painted as a result of a commission from the Club.
Her portrait by Sir John Longstaff
John Longstaff
Sir John Campbell Longstaff was an Australian painter, war artist and a five-time winner of the Archibald Prize. He was a cousin of Will Longstaff, also a painter....
, paid for by public subscription, was unveiled in 1929. It was the first national portrait of an Australian woman.
Sources
- The National Library of Australia. The Flower Hunter: Ellis Rowan
- Australian Women Biography Entry
- Australian National Botanic Gardens Biography
- Bright Sparcs Biographical Entry