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Past Masters of Botanical Art
​& Illustration​
​(1500-1900)

This page highlights 
  • some of the Famous botanical artists and illustrators and Past Masters - between 1500 and 1900
  • other notable artists working within botanical art and illustration. 
  • PLUS links to pages on this website dedicated to botanical artists of particular note

This page covers famous botanical artists from: 
  • the UK
  • France
  • Netherlands / Flemish
  • Germany & Austria
  • Hungary
  • Italy
  • Australasia
  • Africa - specifically South Africa 
  • North and Central America
  • South America ​
GO TO:
Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600 - 1500) 
for artists from China, India and Japan

Famous Botanical Artists of the 20th Century 
for artists after 1900 from the UK, USA, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Brazil, China and Japan.


Botanical Photographers 
for those who specialised in using photography of plants
Redoute Crinum jagus
By Redouté (Les Liliacees, vol. 4: t. 181, as Crinum giganteum) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Famous Botanical Artists (1500-1900)

The Famous Botanical Artists (1500 - 1900) listed below are categorised according to
  • their country of origin - and then listed by
  • their date of birth (oldest first)
If you CLICK the name of the artist the embedded link in each name will take you away from this website to a website providing more information about that artist - typically:
  • EITHER Wikipedia 
  • OR a page on this website dedicated to the artist (indicated as a note in green below the link)
  • OR other websites I've developed about Past Masters of Botanical Art - which are transferring to this site.​
I'll be developing many more dedicated pages related to the notable botanical artists listed below in due course.
​
In addition, this is a link to a list of very many artists who drew and painted plants - as listed on the Plant Illustrations website (987 last time I looked!).
​Click on the artists names to see the illustrations identified - and then click on the illustration to see more about it.
These are the people who have a DEDICATED WEB PAGE on this website. (in chronological order)

1500-1900 Famous Botanical Patrons
  • Leonart Fuchs (1501-1566) 
  • Basilus Besler (1561-1629) 
1500-1900 Famous Botanical Artists
  • Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717)
  • Elizabeth Blackwell (1707 - 1758)
  • Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770)
  • Sydney Parkinson (1745 - 1771)
  • Franz Bauer (1758-1840)
  • Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759 - 1840)
  • Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) - coming soon
  • Marianne North (1830-1890)
​​​1900-2015: 20th Century Botanical Artists
  • Raymond Booth (1929-2015)
  • Arthur Harry Church (1865-1937)
  • Margaret Mee (1909-1988)
  • Rory McEwen (1932-1982)
  • Pandora Sellars (1936-2017) 

Picture
I'm a botanical bibliophile - and these are a few of my books about botanical artists.

One thing I know very well from buying books about botanical artists - they very often get more expensive rather than less expensive as time passes!

This is a link to my website about
The Best Books about Botanical Artists & Illustrators 


FAMOUS BRITISH BOTANICAL ARTISTS (1500 - 1900)
​

The stories behind the botanical art of these British Botanical Artists are absolutely fascinating.
​Artists are listed according to a  timeline of their  birth dates.

Check out famous British Botanical Artists of the 20th Century

Alexander Marshal (1620-1682)
A gentleman gardener living in London who studied rare plants. He decided to record the native and newly imported plants from the Near East and the USA growing in gardens. His florilegium contains 159 folios of watercolour paintings for his own personal pleasure. They contain more than 600 plant species, and detailed studies of insects, birds and animals. 

​


Picture
Fritillaria imperialis (Crown Imperial Lily) by Alexander Marshal (c.1620-1682)
John Dunstall (1644–1675)
Dunstall was a skilful draughtsman and engraver. Most of his work related to portraits and properties. However he also published some drawing-books of natural history. These include compilation drawings of flowers, fruits and nuts. He moved around and lived between Blackfriars, Fleet Street and ludgate Street. It's very probable that he drew his specimens via access to the Old Botanic Gardens in the City of London. Sir Hans Sloane bequeathed artwork by him to the British Museum including 
  • A Book of Slips of Fruit (1666) and 
  • An arrangement of twenty-one flowers in three rows of seven, with violets at lower left, and daisies at lower right (1666) Lettered "John Dunstall fe./Sold by Iohn Overton at the White Horso[sic] at ye Corner of Littl Oulbaley without newgate neere the Fountane Tauerne"; numered "89"
Picture
Studies of walnuts and hazelnuts (1666) by John Dunstall. Pen and brown ink over metalpoint outlines on vellum; 20 x 29 cm
Elizabeth Blackwell (1707-1758)
The link in her name is to a special page on this site dedicated to him. 
​
Elizabeth Blackwell was the first British woman to produce a herbal and the first woman to engrave as well as draw plants. She created and published her Herbal to raise funds to save her husband from debtors' prison
​
The Quince - a plate in The Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell
The Quince - a plate in The Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell
Sydney Parkinson (1745 - 1771) ​
The link in his name is to a special page on this site dedicated to him. 
​​
​

Sydney Parkinson sailed with Captain Cook on the Endeavour and was the first non-Aboriginal artist to set foot on Australian soil. He was the first botanical artist to draw and paint plants collected in Australia.

​See also below under Australia


Banksia by Sydney Parkinson
Banksia serrata watercolour by Sydney Parkinson - from Bank's Florilegium Source: Wikimedia Commons
John Miller (1715–c.1792)
Born Johann Sebastian Müller in Nuremberg, John Miller was a German draughtsman and engraver active in London. In 1744, he came to England and began working with Philip Miller of Chelsea Physic Garden. Initially, he signed his early works J. S. Müller or J. S. Miller. After 1760 used the signature of John Miller. His works included
  • The Figures of the most beautiful, useful, and uncommon plants (1760)
  • a 20-part series Illustratio Systematis Sexualis Linnaei (Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus), (1770-1777) which helped popularize the work of Carl Linnaeus to English readers.
  • Botanical Tables (1785) - collaborating with John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. He was twice married, and two of his sons, John Frederick Miller and James Müller or Miller, also became known as illustrators.
  • The standard author abbreviation J.S.Muell. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
REFERENCE:
  • Miller, John (1715?-1790?) | Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 37
  • John Miller prints | V&A
Picture
Helianthus by John Miller - Plate 68 from "Illustratio systematis sexualis Linnaeani"
Peter Brown (1758-1799)
A British natural history artist of Danish descent known for his animal and flower paintings. He studied with the renowned botanical artist Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-70). His style resembles that of Ehret.  It's possible that the plant subjects for a number of his paintings came from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. His patron, Lord Bute (1713-92), advised Princess Augusta on the development of Kew. In 1784, he became botanical painter to George, Prince of Wales (the future George IV) - and then started to tutor a tutoring a number of aristocrats who engaged in botanical illustration. He painted on vellum as did a number of other professional botanical illustrators in the 18th century preferred vellum to paper. Its smooth surface enabled them to paint very fine detail and helped to give a sheen to the painting of leaves and petals. 
Picture
Peter Brown (British, active 1766–1791), Belladonna Amaryllis, ca. 1780, watercolor on vellum. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. (Came from botanical albums from Kimbolton Castle, dated 1761-1782)
Sydenham T. Edwards, 1768-1819
Sydenham Edwards is one of a few Welsh botanical illustrators who subsequently became a publisher of botanical publications. He was born in 1768 in Usk, Monmouthshire. The T in his name was introduced after he was christened and an account can be found in the article about the welsh artist below. His future career started when he displayed a precocious talent for draughtsmanship as a child. He is said to copied plates from Flora Londinensis for his own enjoyment when only 11. The author of Flora Londinensis met Edwards in Abergavenny and subsequently showed his copies to William Curtis (the publisher of Curtis's Botanical Magazine). Curtis subsequently trained Edwards in both botany and botanical illustration and he became a proficient botanical illustrator in a short time. His first illustration for His first  illustration for the Botanical Magazine (Vol. II, Plate 39), was the carnation Franklin’s  Tartar, which appeared in February 1787 - when he was aged 19.
He died on February 8, 1819)
His Botanical illustrations regularly appeared in Curtis's Botanical Magazine before a quarrel with John Sims led to his founding of
  • the commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Botanical_RegisterBotanical Register Volume 1 (1815) - volume 14 (1828)
  • later known as Edwards Botanical Register - Volume 15(1829) - volume 33 (1847)
REFERENCE:
  • The Welsh Botanical Artist Sydenham T. Edwards, 1768-1819, by Kevin L. Davies | Orchid Study Group
  • Sydenham Edwards | Wikipedia
Sydenham Edwards passiflora
Passiflora quadrangularis (1815) by Sydenham Edwards. This is Plate 14 of Volume 1 of the Botanical Regsiter
Botanical Register; Consisting of Coloured Figures of Exotic Plants Cultivated in British Gardens; with their History and Mode of Treatment.
William Jackson Hooker (1785 – 1865) 
Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University and a competent botanical illustrator. He was also
  • Editor of Curtis's Botanical Magazine and
  • in 1841 he was appointed Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Picture
Plate 2770 from Volume LIV of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, entitled Banksia integrifolia. Entire-leaved Banksia . The image is marked "W. J. H. del", indicating that it was delineated by William Jackson Hooker.
Augusta Innes Withers (1792-1877)
appointed "Flower Painter in Ordinary" to Queen Adelaide and later to Queen Victoria. (She was the daughter of a chaplain to the Prince Regent). She lived at 23 Paulton Square, Kings Road, Chelsea and was active as a painter from before 1827 to 1865 and also taught art. Joseph Dalton Hooker refused a position Withers a position as a botanical artist,
She produced illustrations for
  • John Lindley's Pomological Magazine
  • Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala by James Bateman
  • Benjamin Maund's "Botanist",
  • the ”Transactions of the Horticultural” Society,
  • the ”Illustrated Bouquet" (1857-1863) and
  • Curtis's Botanical Magazine.
She has work in the Natural History Museum.
REFERENCE:
  • 21 illustrations by A I Withers | Plant Illustrations
  • Illustrations by Augusta Innes Withers | Wikimedia Commons
Picture
Illustration of Stanhopea martiana (1842) by Augusta Withers - from "The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala", pl. 27
Mrs Priscilla Susan Bury (1799 - 1872)
Mrs Bury's place in botanical art history is due to her flower paintings which were published as engravings in A Selection of Hexandrian Plants, belonging to the Natural Orders Amaryllidae and Liliacae in London by Robert Havell the younger, [plates watermarked 1831-1834]. There were 79 subscribers and hence this is now a rare book of some significance. A copy of her book was auctioned at Christies in 2001 and fetched £75,250.
​Priscilla Susan Falkner was born in Liverpool. She was the daughter of a rich Liverpool merchant whose estate outside the city at Fairfields 'boasted a garden with many rare and exotic plants' (Tomasi). As a child and young woman she was an enthusiastic botanist and flower painter and was particularly interested in lilies and allied flowers. She has no pretensions as to scientific knowledge and, in effect, was a very talented amateur. By 1829, (age 30) she had produced a number of paintings which she wished to publish. 
​In 1830, Falkner married Edward Bury F.R.S. (1794-1858), a wealthy and ingenious railway engineer and she had three sons - and her paintings were transcribed by Robert Havell into engravings. (Havel was also responsible for his engravings for John James Audubon.
Following the publication of Hexandrian Plants, Priscilla Bury continued to contribute illustrations to botanical works including
  • Maund's The Botanic Garden (London: 1825-1851) and
  • Maund and Henslow's The Botanist (London: 1836-1842).​
REFERENCE:
  • ​Priscilla Susan Bury | Wikipedia
  • Mrs Edward Bury (nee Priscilla Susan Falkner), Botanical Artist | Archives of Natural History (Vol. 5 (1) | 71 - Sept 1, 1968
  • Bury, Priscilla Susan 1799 - 1872 | Science Museum Group
  • ​Mrs Edward Bury | The Art of Botanical Illustration (1955 - page 213) by Wilfrid Blunt
  • Mrs Edward Bury | Christies
  • Bury [née Falkner], Priscilla Susan (1799–1872) by ​D. J. Mabberley | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Picture
Crinium Augustum [Queen Emma] by Mrs Priscilla Bury FROM "A selection of hexandrian plants, belonging to the natural orders Amaryllidæ and Liliacæ, from drawings by Mrs. Edward Bury, Liverpool"
one of the most splendid botanical works to be published in the nineteenth century (Tomasi)
"one of the most effective colour-plate folios of the period" Wilfrid Blunt
Hexandrian plants have six stamens.
IMAGES:
  • A selection of hexandrian plants, belonging to the natural orders Amaryllidæ and Liliacæ, from drawings by Mrs. Edward Bury, Liverpool | New York Public Library
  • A selection of Hexandrian plants, belonging to the natural orders Amaryllidae and Liliacae | Wikimedia Commons - sourced from the Biodiversity Library
  • Amaryllis Purpurea, from A Selection of Hexandrian Plants belonging to the natural orders Amaryllidae & Liliacae, by Mrs Edward Bury (1750-1825), published by Robert Havell (1769-1832). Drawing. London, England, 1831-34. | Victoria and Albert Museum
Anne Pratt (1806-1893) 
One of the best known English botanical illustrators of the Victorian age and contributed to the popularisation of botany. She wrote and illustrated more than 20 books and collaborated with 
William Dickes, an engraver to illustrate them using chromolithographs. Her books included:
  • The British grasses and sedges‎ (63 F)
  • The ferns of Great Britain, and their allies the club-mosses, pepperworts, and horsetails‎ (40 F)
  • The flowering plants, grasses, sedges, & ferns of Great Britain‎ (332 F)
Picture
Anne Pratt (1806-1893), English botanical illustrator
Walter Hood Fitch (1817 – 1892)
Walter Hood Fitch was both a plant explorer and one of the most prolific botanical artists ever. He started out working for Professor William Hooker.  

​This is 
the page about his art developed by Kew
Victoria Regia
Victoria Regia. (Opening flower) (1851) - lithograph by Walter Hood Fitch - for "Victoria Regia : or, Illustrations of the Royal water-lily, in a series of figures chiefly made from specimens flowering at Syon and at Kew" by Walter Fitch; with descriptions by Sir W.J. Hooker
Marianne North (1830 - 1890)
The link in her name is to a special page on this site dedicated to her.
​

A lady who taught herself to paint and travelled the world painting plants and flowers. She produced 833 paintings from 17 countries in 14 years, depicting more than 900 species of plants. The paintings are now housed in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens.
​


Picture
The Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens
Harriet Thiselton-Dyer (1854-1945)
Harriet Thiselton-Dyer (HTD) is the link at Kew between Walter Hood Fitch and Matilda Smith who both illustrated Curtis's Botanical Magazine. She studied with Walter Hood Fitch and helped to keep Curtis's Botanical Magazine viable after the fall-out between Hooker and Fitch - before Matilda Smith took over as the lead Illustrator. Harriet was grand-daughter, daughter and wife of three directors of Kew Gardens. She was the granddaughter of Sir William Hooker, daughter of Joseph Hooker and was married to the botanist William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (who was later knighted - and she became a Lady).
Somewhat belatedly, Curtis's Botanical Magazine published a summary of her life and contribution to botanical illustration and Curtis's Botanical Magazine in September 2022.

REFERENCE
  • Harriet Anne Thistleton-Dyer | Wikipedia
  • Harriet Anne Thiselton-Dyer | Howard Tilton Memorial Library
  • Harriet Ann Thistleton-Dyer (1854-1945) A Kew Botanical Artist by Alison Rix | Volume39, Issue3 September 2022 Pages 579-605
Picture
Harriet Anne (Hooker) Thistleton-Dyer
Matilda Smith (1854-1926) 
30 July 1854 in Mumbai, India. She was a second cousin of Joseph Dalton Hooker who succeeded his Father as Director of Kew Gardens. She became a key illustrator of Curtis's Botanical Magazine after the famous dispute over pay between Hooker and Walter Hood Fitch which prompted Fitch to leave Kew.  In 1898, she was appointed the magazine's sole official artist. Between 1878 and 1923 (45 years), Smith drew more than 2,300 plates for the magazine. In 1881 she was made the sole artist and lithographer for Hooker's Icones Plantarum and created 1,500 illustrations for this extensive series of published volumes of botanical illustration, initiated by Sir William Jackson Hooker. Her work was converted into a lithograph by John Nugent Fitch , who was the nephew of botanical artist Walter Hood Fitch. She also illustrated a number of other books, including Watt's The Wild and Cultivated Cotton Plants of the World (1907). Died 1926 (aged 71–72) in Cortland, New York

REFERENCE:
  • Matilda Smith | Wikipedia
  • Drawings by Matilda Smith for Curtis's Botanical Magazine | Wikimedia Commons​
  • 4663 drawings by Matilda Smith | Plant Illustrations
  • "Matilda Smith (1854-1926)". In Early New Zealand Botanical Art. Reed Methuen, 1985.
Picture
Corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum by Matilda Smith. Plate from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 1891. Smith drew this plant during its first blooming at Kew Gardens in 1889.
As late as the mid 20th century, art teacher Wilfrid Blunt, in his book The Art of Botanical Illustration, dismissed her as an artist of inferior skills, praising her faintly for her charm, her work ethic, and her usefulness in creating a record of otherwise unpictured plants.[11][12][13] In this he follows a pattern first noticeable in the Victorian era of progressively devaluing botany and botanical art as women entered the field professionally.[14] 
Matilda Smith | Wikipedia
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943)

The famous author of children's books had a lifelong fascination with fungi. She developed a keen interest in mycology (the study of mushrooms and fung) by her early 20s.  Beatrix Potter drew detailed, accurate pictures of at least 350 fungi, mosses and spores that she found near her home in Cumbria or had sent to her.  She also studied them under a microscope to investigate how they reproduced and wrote a paper on germinating fungal spores that was presented at the prestigious Linnean Society of London. She bequeathed most of her mycological drawings to the Armitt Museum and Library in Ambleside in Cumbria where they can still be seen. In 1997, the Linnean Society issued a posthumous apology to Potter for the sexism displayed in its handling of her research

REFERENCES:
  • Beatrix Potter | The Armitt Museum
  • Beatrix Potter, Mycologist: The Beloved Children’s Book Author’s Little-Known Scientific Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms | Brain Pickings - the article contains images of her drawings
  • Beatrix Potter: Pioneering scientist or passionate amateur? | BBC - an article about her 
  • Beatrix Potter Case Study | Australian National Herbarium
  • Beatrix Potter, scientist | The Scientist (2007)
Picture
Her drawings of mushrooms and fungi on Google Images
"What is impressive about her work is that despite Miss Potter's lack of scientific training, she was one of very few Victorians engaged in experimental observations on fungi,"
Nicholas Money, professor of botany at Miami University.

FAMOUS FRENCH BOTANICAL ARTISTS
​

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (1533-1588)

It took until the 20th century for Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues to be recognised at the beginning of the 20th century as one of the most remarkable early botanical painters.

He was born in Dieppe in 1533at Morgues, a small village near Chateaudun.  Dieppe hosted the most advanced French school of cartography (map-making) in the 16th century. It also had a notable community of Huguenots who fled abroad round about the same time as the artist did in later life.
  • We know nothing about the first 30 years of his life. At some point he was trained as an artist, probably in the French manuscript tradition 
  • Expedition to Florida (1564-1565) - official artist for the French expedition to Florida
  • In 1572 he fled to England to escape the growing hostility towards the Huguenots
  • He settled in London (Blackfriars) as early as 1581 (granted letters of denization on 12 May of that year); he entered the service of Sir Walter Raleigh who became his patron
  • 1586 - He published La Clef des Champs (1586) which was illustrated with woodcuts of plants he had drawn.
  • He is also well known for producing some of the earliest known  images of European colonisation in the New World (see Exploring Florida: Jacques Le Moyne: Images of the engravings).  His detailed account of the voyage, Brevis narratio eorum quae in Florida Americai provincia Gallis acciderunt, was published in 1591.
  • He died in London in 1588.

Post Mortem
1856 - a small volume of work (including 59 of his watercolours) was purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum (solely for the binding which was a fine example of work in the 16th century
In 1856, the South Kensington Museum (which subsequently was to become the V&A) purchased a book solely for its elaborate gold tooled French 16th century binding. It just happened to contain  a set of 59 botanical watercolours by an unknown artist. The significance of the album of botanical watercolours was only realised when his signature was discovered on one of the watercolours.  His album of watercolours of flowers and fruit dated 1585 is now in the British Museum (1962,0714.1.1 to 51). A re-edition of his paintings including critical response has been published in 1977 by the British Museum. (see below) 
1922 - Spencer Savage, Clerk of the Linnean Society (1922-1951) discovered the book at the V&A and Morgue's role in the development of botanical art in the 16th Century was reassessed
Picture
A Sheet of Studies with French Roses and an Oxeye Daisy about 1570 by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues
Picture
Cucumber by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues
Reference:
  • Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues | Wikipedia
  • Album of botanical watercolours (Le Moyne de Morgues) ​| Wikimedia Commons
  • Jacques Le Moyne | British Museum
  • The elusive Jacques Le Moyne | Garden History Blog
  • The work of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues : a Huguenot artist in France, Florida, and England by Le Moyne de Morgues, Jacques, 1533?-1588 | Internet Archive
Books:  
  • The work of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, a Huguenot artist in France, Florida and England​ Hulton, P. et al. Published by British Museum Publications, 1977 | ISBN 10: 0714107379 / ISBN 13: 9780714107370
  • 'A Spring of Immortal Colours’: Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (c. 1533-1588) Monique Kornell and Dániel Margócsy
  • 'Picturing Plants in the Sixteenth Century’, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 2023, p.122, note 43.
​​
Nicolas Robert (1614 - 1685)
​Blunt suggests he must be remembered for three things:
  1. the famous Guirlande de Julie (links to digital copy) - Robert painted each flower
  2. his flower paintings on vellum for Gaston and subsequently Louis IV
  3. his contribution to Recueil des Plantes (links to digital copy) - a fine set of plane engravings
References:
  • Nicolas Robert By Jutta Buck Originally appeared in The Botanical Artist – Volume 17, Issue 3
  • Highlighted in Chapter 9 of Blunt's 'The Art of Botanical Illustration'
Picture
Image from Recueil de plantes coloriees, pour servir a l'intelligence des lettres elementaires sur la botanique (Pl. XXXV)
Claude Aubriet (1665-1742)
a botanical illustrator at the Jardin du Roi in Paris (the main botanical garden in France) prior to becoming the Royal Botanical Painter. He mainly painted using body colour on vellum.
  • Claude Aubriet By Jutta Buck Originally appeared in The Botanical Artist – Volume 17, Issue 4
  • Highlighted in Chapter 9 of Blunt's 'The Art of Botanical Illustration'










Picture
A plant (Sinapis species): flowering plant with leaf and floral segments. Etching, c. 1718, after C. Aubriet.
Gerard van Spaendonck (22 March 1746 – 11 May 1822) ​
A Flemish painter and engraver who brought the traditions of Flemish flower painting to Paris. Prior to this he had studied with studied under the decorative painter Guillaume-Jacques Herreyns in Antwerp in the 1760s
  • In 1780 he succeeded Madeleine Françoise Basseporte (1701–1780) as Professeur de peintre de fleurs  (professor of floral painting) at the Jardin des Plantes. He was subsequently elected as a member of the Académie des beaux-arts. In 1793, he was appointed professeur d'iconographie at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, a position that was created specifically for him.
  • He contributed over fifty paintings to the Vélins du Roi, a famous collection of botanical watercolors possessed by French royalty. 
  • In 1781 he became a member of the l'Académie Royale and was named conseiller in 1788.
  • Van Spaendonck was highly respected as an artist and a teacher. Among his pupils were Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Pancrace Bessa (1772–1846) and Henriette Vincent.
  • He taught Redoute how to do stipple engraving. This is that is well suited to the reproduction of botanical detail. A copper plate is engraved with a dense grid of dots. The size and intensity of the dots can be varied to represent the changes in tonal values. 

REFERENCE:
  • Gerard van Spaendonck | Paulus Swaen
  • Gerard van Spaendonck | Web gallery of Art
  • Gerard van Spaendonck | Hunt Insititute
Picture
"Bouquet of Tulips, Roses and an Opium Poppy, with a Pale Clouded Yellow Butterfly, a Red Longhorn Beetle and a Sevenspotted Ladybug" by Flemish-born painter Gerard Van Spaendonck. Oil on marble
Spaendonck’s Fleurs Dessinees d'apres Nature is one of the rarest of the great flower books, its images described by the great scholar Wilfrid Blunt as "magnificent drawings, brilliantly interpreted in stipple." 
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840)
​The link in his name is to a special page on this site dedicated to him. ​​​
​

Many people first become interested in botanical art because of the paintings of roses, lilies and other flowers produced by royal flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté.

Redouté had the unique distinction of painting flowers for both Marie Antoinette (the last Queen of France) and the Empress Josephine Bonaparte.

His paintings continue to be very popular to this day.
Hemerocallis plantaginea var. japonica
Hemerocallis plantaginea var. japonica from "Les liliacées" by Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840). Source: Wikimedia Commons
Pierre-Antoine Poiteau (1766 - 1854)
A self-taught French botanist, gardener and botanical artist. Essentially a gardener who liked to travel and who developed his painting in association with his gardening.
  • in 1790 (age 24) he was the garçon jardinier at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle of Paris. While there studied the Linnaeus' Systema vegetabilium  and developed his painting under the guidance of Gérard van Spaendonck. He was also influenced by Redouté 
  • at the end of the 18th century he went to Haiti and became Head Gardener of the new botanic garden in Haiti. Here Poiteau taught Turpin (see below) botany and the two collected plants together.
  • In 1815, back in France, he was appointed as Head of the Royal Tree Nursery of Versailles. In 1818 he published he published Histoire naturelle des orangers (Natural history of the orange trees).
  • in 1822, he was appointed head gardener of Fontainebleau. 
  • In 1835, with Pierre-Jean-François Turpin, he published a new edition of the Traité des arbres fruitiers (Treatise of the fruit trees)
REFERENCE
  • ​Pierre-Antoine Poiteau | Wikipedia 
  • Plants collected by Pierre-Antoine Poiteau | JStor Plants
  • Prints from Pierre-Antoine Poiteau's Pomologie Française [1846]
  • Orange Bigarrade Couronnée by Antoine Poiteau | Kew Botanical Prints
  • Pierre Antoine Poiteau Pictures and Images | Getty Images
Plate 8, "Arancio di Genova", from l’Histoire Naturelle des Orangers by Pierre-Antoine Poiteau
“No French botanical artist of the period can have escaped the influence of Redouté, and Poiteau was among the group associated with him. These oranges and lemons and their relations, with leaves, flowers, and often cross-sections as well as whole fruits, form one of the most beautiful and complete records of the varieties known in the nineteenth century”
(An Oak Spring Pomona - commenting on Histoire naturelle des orangers ).
Pancrace Bessa (1771 -1846)
One the leading painters of flowers and fruit in the first half of the 19th century in France. He was as highly regarded as van Spaendonck and Redouté but was less prolific.
  • born in the Marais district of Paris.
  • studied at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris (commonly known as the Jardin des Plantes) and was taught briefly by Gerard van Spaendonck. He also studied with and was influenced by Pierre-Joseph Redouté
  • Bessa was hired as a peintre des fleurs to portray rare plants for the famous collection of vélins—the paintings on vellum begun in the mid-17th century. He illustrated some of the most important botanical publications by the leading French botanists, horticulturists and agriculturists of the day for the Museum. He illustrated new species of fruits, flowers and trees from the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia.
  • In 1808 Bessa published his first work - a series of twenty-four stipple engravings entitled Fleurs et Fruits gravés et coloriés sur les peintures aquarelles faites d’après nature.
  • He also illustrated 
    • ​Louis-Claude Noisette’s Le jardin fruitier, (1813)
    • Etienne Michel’s Traité du citronier (1816)
  • Bessa painted the originals for one of the most important French periodicals of the period—Mordant de Launay's (and later Loiseleur-Deslongchamp's) Herbier Général de l'Amateur (Paris, [1810–]1816–1827)—depicting in watercolor on vellum 572 rare and new plants growing in the gardens of Paris. 
  • He collaborated with Redoute on the illustrations for
    • François-André Michaux’s Arbres forestiers de l’Amérique septentrionale, (1810 and 1813)
    • Aimé Bonpland’s Description des plantes rares cultivées à Malmaison et à Navarre  (1813)
  • In 1823 he succeeded Van Spaendonck as painter to the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, by whom he was commissioned to produce studies of flowers on vellum.
Picture
Telopea speciosissima by Pancrace Bessa
REFERENCE:
  • Pancrace Bessa and the Golden Age of French Botanical Illustration (18 Sept. - 19 Dec. 2008) | Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation
  • Pancrace Bessa | Wikipedia
  • Herbier Général de l'Amateur | Internet Archive​
  • Herbier General de l'Amateur | Biodiversity Library
  • Pancrace Bessa | ArtNet
Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775 – 1840)
A largely self-taught and very prolific French botanist and illustrator considered to be one of the best botanical illustrators of the Napoleonic Era and afterwards. 
  • He learned the elements of drawing at the art school at Vire and developed his botanical drawing while serving with the French army
  • He had a reputation for producing very fine and detailed drawings.
  • He collaborated with Pierre Antoine Poiteau (see above) on a six-volume treatise on fruit trees, a study of cacti, and a flora of Paris
  • He contributed to many important publications, including two special copies of 'Leçon de Flore' by Poiret for European monarchs.
  • Examples of Turpin's work were held in the collections of the French and Austrian monarchies
  • The RHS Lindley Library has a number of his original paintings on vellum.

REFERENCE:
  • Turpin, Pierre Jean François (1775-1840) | JSTOR Global Plants
  • ​Pierre Jean François Turpin | Wikipedia 
  • ​Pierre Jean François Turpin | Wikimedia Commons
  • ​Pierre Jean François Turpin | RHS Prints
Grenadier à fruits doux (Pomegranate) by Pierre Jean François Turpin
Grenadier à fruits doux (Pomegranate) by Pierre Jean François Turpin

FAMOUS FLEMISH BOTANICAL ARTISTS (1500-1900)
​

Joris Hoefnagel (1542 - 1601)​
Strictly speaking Joris Hoefnagel was a court illuminator rather than a botanical artist. He is famous for his miniature work on various manuscripts in the collection of the Habsburg dynasty. However he very obviously enjoyed drawing and painting natural objects such as plants, flowers, animals and insects.  He was commissioned by the Holy Roman Austro-Hungarian Emperor Rudolf II to illustrate the Mira calligraphiae monumenta a model book of calligraphic scripts. The edition (1 of 2) owned by the Getty Museum has fruit, flowers, and insects to nearly every page.  You can also download a 1992 book about the Mira calligraphiae monumenta from the Getty Website.

You can also read more about the work and the artist in Nature Illuminated (see below) which reproduces forty-one pages from the original codex
From Amazon. com Nature Illuminated: Flora and Fauna from the Court of Emperor Rudolf II (Getty Trust Publications: J. Paul Getty Museum)
Fly or Blister Beetle, Willow Bellflower, Gourd, and Bindweed
Mira calligraphiae monumenta: Fly or Blister Beetle, Willow Bellflower, Gourd, and Bindweed by illuminator Joris Hoefnagel (Flemish / Hungarian, 1542 - 1600) and calligrapher Georg Bocskay (Hungarian, died 1575). | The Getty Museum - Open Content Program.

FAMOUS GERMAN & AUSTRIAN BOTANICAL ARTISTS (1500-1900)
​

Martin Schongauer (1450 - 1491)
Born in Colmar c.1450. He was said to be the most important printmaker north of the Alps prior to Albrecht Durer.  He is also the first engraver known to have been not only a goldsmith but also a painter and he seems to have invented cross-hatching.  

While most of his work is religious in subject matter, he also went direct to nature for material for the backgrounds and context of his subjects.

He made some of the very first scientific illustrations of plants.  His study of a peony was produced for his painting of the Madonna of the Rose Bush painted in 1473 (Colmar). He died, probably of the plague in 1490 at Breisach.
A coloured drawing, dated about 1472 or 73 by Martin Schongauer (1450-1491)... portrays with astonishing accuracy features of the calyx of Paeonia officinalis having evolutionary and taxonomic significance ignored until 1939. From the outside inwards the leafy blade of the outer sepal is progressively reduced, while the petiolar base is expanded, until only a sepal represents it, then disappears. All this Scongauer beautifully recorded.
Wilfrid Blunt | The Art of Botanical Illustration (Ch 24) - explaining why this image is on the cover of one of the editions
Picture
Martin Schongauer (German, about 1450/1453 - 1491) Studies of Peonies, about 1472 - 1473, Gouache and waterolor 25.7 x 33 cm (10 1/8 x 13 in.) The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Leonhart Fuchs (1501 - 1566) 
​The link in his name is to a special page on this site dedicated to him.

Fuchs is not a botanical artist. He was a German Physician and botanist who is known as one of the three German fathers of Botany.
Picture
Leonhart Fuchs at the age of 42 years - as pictured in the Historia Stirpum
He collected plants and botanical books and created one of the first botanical gardens in the world. He then organised the presentation of plant material in a systematic way including a much higher standard of botanical illustration than had hitherto been required.  

His book was called (colloquially) The Great Herbal. Its more formal name was 
De historia stirpium commentary insignias  
- meaning Notable commentaries on the history of plants
Picture
Plate from 1542 book "De historia stirpium commentarii insignes". Text by Leonhart Fuchs and illustrations by Albrecht Meyer, Heinricus Füllmaurer and Veit Rudolph Speckle
Three artists assisted him with the drawing, the cutting of the wood block and the production of the wood print for over 500 woodcuts.

The names of the artists remain obscure. They are believed to be 
Heinrich Füllmaurer and Albrecht Meyer who drew the plants and Vitus Rodolph Speckle who cut the wood blocks. The illustrations were drawn from nature using mature plants which Fuchs often provided from his garden in Tübingen. 
Picture
illustrations by Albrecht Meyer, Heinrich Füllmaurer and Vitus Rudolph Speckle
Leonhart Fuchs: The New Herbal of 1543
by Leonhart Fuchs (Author)
with Klaus Dobat and Werner Dressendorfer

A new edition of a facsimile of the Great Herbal by Taschen - based on Fuch's original and own copy of the Herbal s
Hardcover: 960 pages
Publisher: Taschen GmbH
NEW edition! 
Publication date: 25.05.16
BUY in UK: Leonhart Fuchs: The New Herbal of 1543 (Va)
Basilius Besler
The link in his name is to a special page on this site dedicated to him. ​​

Basilius Besler is not a botanical artist. Rather he was the man best known for compiling the book known as the Hortus Eystettensis which was a florilegium of all the plants grown in the garden of the prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.

Key features of the book include:
  • Subject matter covered all the plants in the garden and spanned a large range with marked contrasts between e.g. native plants and plants from overseas; everyday garden plants and exotic plants; flowers and herbs and vegetables
  • The Plates depict plants at near life-size. This gives both a better sense of the plant and also enables those viewing the plates to see more detail
  • Despite being produced in the early 17th century the book is laid out in a way which would now be regarded as quite modern
  • First edition of 300 copies published in 1613 - and took 4 years to sell
​This project changed botanical art and the course of its future development.
Picture
Papaver laciniatum and Tordilion Creticum - a plate from the "Hortus Eystettensis" (1613)
Basilius Besler's Florilegium. The Book of Plants

RECOMMENDED: I own the 25th anniversary edition of this book and highly recommend the Taschen standards of reproduction.

​This is a huge book has got 540 pages. It's published by the German publisher Taschen and is very much in the style of a facsimile edition.

This is a link to my review of the book. Below that is a video showing you what the book looks like inside.
Making a Mark: Book Review: Besler's Book of Flowers and Plants
In my opinion, this is the sort of book which will appeal to a real fan of the history of botanical art. It's certainly very interesting from the point of view of studying classical portrayals of plants and flowers. I also found it really interesting to see the difference between the woodcuts seen in the book reviewed yesterday and how the nature of the illustrations changed as they started to use (1) copper engraving and (2) colour.​
Hardcover: 540 pages
Publisher: TASCHEN GmbH
Publication date: 25 Sept. 2015
Buy in UK: Basilius Besler's Florilegium. The Book of Plants
Buy in USA Basilius Besler's Florilegium: The Book of Plants
Johann Jakob Walther (German, Saxony ca. 1604–ca. 1677 Strasburg)
Born Strasbourg 1604; died 1677. 
Probably trained in the workshop of miniaturist Friedrich Brentel. He painted hundreds of flowers and birds. The flower paintings for his florilegium were commissioned by the Count of Nassau, who set about the creation of a garden of rare plants and flowers at his castle at Idstein near Frankfurt. 

REFERENCE:
  • Collections, A (2018-02-26). "Tulips - Walther, Johann Jakob". V and A Collections.
  • (in English) So many sweet flowers : a seventeenth-century florilegium / paintings by Johann Walther 1654 Jenny de Gex (dir.),  (preface by Gill Saunders), Pavilion, London, 1997, 104 p. ISBN 1-85793-353-2
The 30-year war devastated Europe. After its end in 1648, the Hamburgers breathed - and discovered their desire for gardens, exotic plants and the wonders of botany. 
Pleasure gardens: Hamburg's vanished paradises by Irene Jung | Hamburger Abendblatt
So many sweet flowers : a seventeenth-century florilegium / paintings by Johann Walther 1654 
​

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
​I own a copy of this delightful book which can be had for a very reasonable price if you don't mind a used version.

His compilations and compositions of flowers from the garden are most attractive.

The book also comes with essays by Gill Saunders from The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, who provides context for the plants.
Hardcover: 112 pages
Publisher: Pavilion Books;
First Edition edition: published 30 Jan. 1997

BUY THIS BOOK
SO MANY SWEET FLOWERS: A Seventeenth-century Florilegium - Paintings by Johann Walther, 1654 from Amazon UK
So Many Sweet Flowers: A Seventeenth-Century Florilegium from Amazon.com
Hans Simon Holtzbecker a.k.a. Johannes Simon Holzbecher  (1610? - 1671)
​A noted botanical artist and flower painter from Hamburg. He created the paintings for books of botanical art / florilegium:
  • the Gottorfer Codex , a four-volume plant atlas (1654, 1655, 1659 and 1660). the Green florilegium (formerly the Husum florilegium called), is located as the Gottorfer Codex in Danish state property in Copenhagen.
  • the Anckelmann Florilegium on the plants in the Hortus Anckelmannius (garden) of the Hamburg Oberalten and Senator Caspar Anckelmann (1634-1698)
  • The Moller Florilegium , five folios of paintings of flowers and fruit, created for the Hamburg mayor Barthold Moller from his baroque garden. 
They are regarded by Dietrich Roth as testimonies of outstanding artistic talent, exact observation and astounding diligence and an important source for the history of floral painting and garden art, as well as historical botany and the introduction of ornamental plants in Germany. 

His paintings were misattributed to Maria Sibylla Merian for many years.

REFERENCE:
  • The Moller Florilegium - auctioned by Christies - for £551,000
  • Dieter Roth (ed) 'Das Moller-Florilegium: Hans Simon Holtzbeckers Blumenalbum für den Bürgermeister Barthold Moller', Munich, 2007
  • Dietrich Roth (ed.): 'The flower books of Hans Simon Holtzbecker and Hamburg's pleasure gardens' Goecke & Evers, Keltern-Weiler 2003,
  • What is the Gottofor Codex? | Statens Museum, Copenhagen
Although he enjoyed a great reputation during his lifetime, when his work was commissioned by the wealthy and the noble, Holtzbecker has gone unrecognised in the intervening centuries. This gross oversight is due to the rarity of his work -- he executed approximately 3000 flower paintings, but they are contained in only 4 works (in 11 volumes) --, but even more to the unfortunate misattribution of his masterpieces.  Christies
Picture
Gentiana acaulis (stængelløs ensian); Gentiana verna (vår-ensian); Gentiana acaulis (stængelløs ensian); Gentiana (art af ensian) by Hans Simon Holtzbecker. Gouache on parchment. 505 x 385 mm
Picture
Lilium candidum monstrosum by Hans Simon Holtzbecker - gouache on parchment; 505 mm (19.88 in) x 385 mm (15.15 in). Gottorfer Codex, folio 1, #82
Jacob Marrel (1613-1681) 
Born in France to Protestant parents and fled to Germany to escape persecution. He was essentially renowned for his still life paintings of flowers.
He also produced very detailed botanical drawings for various catalogues produced by nurserymen and horticulturalists who sold bulbs to collectors. These included images of tulips for Tulpenboeken (albums detailing tulip varieties). Marrel created at least six tulip books during the era of 'Tulipmania', three of which remain intact.
See:
  • Sheet from a Tulip Book | Rijksmuseum
  • Two tulips with Insects | Rijksmuseum
  • Two Tulips, a Shell and an Insect. | From the Tulpenboek, folio 38v. | Rijksmuseum (Wikimedia
  • Jacob Marrel artworks in the Rijksmuseum
  • Four Tulips | Metropolitan Museum of Art
He trained with  Jan Davidszoon de Heem (one of the greatest Dutch still life painters of the Golden Age) in Utrecht before returning to Frankfurt to paint flowers as still lifes.  Later in life he created an art school and was active as an art dealer.

His wife's daughter was Maria Sibylla Merian (see below). He mentored her in the development of her art.

REFERENCE:
  • Jacob Marrel | Artcylopedia
Picture
Four Tulips: Boter man (Butter Man), Joncker (Nobleman), Grote geplumaceerde (The Great Plumed One), and Voorwint (With the Wind) by Jacob Marrel (Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art | Source: Wikimedia Commons)
This watercolor on vellum is a remarkable document of a fascinating moment in botanical and economic history, involving a venerated flower and its trade on the stock market. It depicts four different tulip cultivars, each clearly named (Boter man, Joncker, Grote geplumaceerde, Voorwint) and beautifully rendered to record the prized bloom. The sheet comes out of one of several watercolor albums or Tulpenboeken made by the Dutch still-life painter, print- and tulip dealer Jakob Marrel (1613–1681).
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 - 1717)
The link in her name is to a special page on this site dedicated to her

Maria Sibylla Merian was a Naturalist, Entymologist and Botanical Illustrator and is rated as being one of the greatest ever botanical artists.
  • She created botanical / natural history paintings with an innovative compositional style and is very attractive to view.
  • She displayed the life cycle of an insect against the background of its host plant.
She was introduced to flower painting by her step-father Jacob Marrel (see above).

Her eldest daughter Johanna Helena Herolt (1668-1723) was also an 18th century botanical painter of some note. She frequently introduced insects, small mammals and amphibians into paintings of plants.

Her younger daughter Dorothea Maria Graff (1678-1743) was also a painter. She ran a business selling her mother's prints and paintings. About a third of the folios formerly attributed to Merian are now thought to be by Dorothea.

Many of the works of the daughters were attributed to the mother.
Picture
'A Parrot Tulip, Auriculas, and Red Currants, with a Magpie Moth, its Caterpillar and Pupa' by Maria Sibylla Merian. Black chalk, bodycolour and watercolour on vellum. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Insects of Surinam by Maria Sibylla Merian

This is a Taschen Special - it's a reprint of a hand coloured first edition copy of Maria Sibylla Merian's "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium" published in 1705! ​
I've got a copy of this book - it's big and it's special! There's nothing else quite like it.

The original had 60 copperplate engravings demonstrating the stages of insect development. The illustrations include the cultivated and wild plants encountered during her travels in Surinam.

The original had text in Dutch and Latin. This one has expert commentary Katharina Schmidt-Loske. ​
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Taschen 
Mul edition (15 Oct. 2009)


BUY THIS BOOK
Insects of Surinam from Amazon UK
Insects of Surinam from Amazon.com (different cover)
Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770)
​The link in his name is to a special page on this site dedicated to him.

Georg Dionysius Ehret was a German-born artist who was a leading botanical artist in the 18th Century and became one of the most influential botanical artists of all time through his development of the Linnaean style of botanical illustration. 

Picture
Selenicereus grandiflorus (1750) by Georg Ehret - from Plantae Selectae
Barbara Regina Dietzsch (1706–1783) 
A very talented member of the from the Nuremberg artist dynasty Dietzsch. Her work was exported and although credited with being a  court painter she rejected this description. 
​


Johann Christoph Dietzsch (1710 - 1769) 
A German draftsman, engraver and painter who used watercolour and body colour to produce paintings in the Dutch style eg on prepared vellum with a dark background. According to 
this article in The Economist - this is the artist who prompted Dr Shirley Sherwood to break her rule to only buy work by contemporary artists.

It's not uncommon for museums and galleries to have difficulties attributing paintings to one or the other of the Dietzch family.
Picture
"Primula, ladybird and butterfly" (gouache on paper, 18th century) from the circle of Barbara Regina Dietzsch
The Bauer Brothers 

The Bauer brothers - Franz and Ferdinand - are regarded as two of the best botanical artists that have ever lived by many botanical art experts
  • Franz Bauer (1758-1840) - who worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew for over 50 years and latterly was employed as "Botanick Painter to his Majesty" and drew all the new flowering plants at Kew. He specialised in painting orchids. The link in Franz Bauer's name is to a special dedicated page on this site.
  • Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826) - travelled extensively with botanists and explorers to map and record the natural flora and fauna of Greece with Dr John Sibthorp, the professor of botany at Oxford University. He was also the botanical artist on the Matthew Flinders expedition to explore and record the coastline of Australia. Ferdinand invented a unique method for recording the colour of his specimens in the field.
See 
  • Botanical artists - Franz and Ferdinand Bauer​
  • Painting by numbers - Bauer at the Bodleian
Picture
Brasenia schiberi (water shield) by Franz Bauer at the Natural History Museum
Bauer numbered colour chart
Colour chart developed based on numbering in sketchbooks and paintings produced by Ferdinand Bauer for 'Flora Graeca' - from the 'Painting by Numbers' exhibition at the Bodelian Library, Oxford University
The Bauers - Masters of Botanical Illustration by Hans Walter Lack 
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: This is the first comprehensive biography of the three Bauer Brothers, two of whom made an enormous contribution to botanical illustration during the golden century of natural history illustration between 1750-1850.
  • Franz - employed at Kew Gardens as the “Botanick Painter to His Majesty”
  • Ferdinand - who was the first person to produce a detailed visual account of the Levant and the natural history of the plants and animals of Australia
  • Josef - their elder brother who was the court painter to the Prince of Lichtenstein.
I was delighted to be given this book as a present as it i the THE authoritative account of Franz and Ferdinand - and is an amazing book.  It's very large and very well produced. The reproductions of their very detailed illustrations of plants and flowers are high quality. It's also a definitive account of their highly developed methods for coloring their paintings. The book draws on the very extensive graphical records kept in London, Oxford, Vienna, Göttingen and elsewhere.
Author: Hans Walter Lack has been the Director of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum in Berlin, Germany since 1990. He has written extensively about botanical art.  
Hardcover: 496 pages
Illustrations: 226 color illustrations (most are colour)
Size: 320mm x 215mm

Publisher: Prestel;
First edition published: 1 Nov. 2015

BUY THIS BOOK
The Bauers Joseph, Franz & Ferdinand: An Illustrated Biography from Amazon UK
The Bauers: Joseph, Franz & Ferdinand: Masters of Botanical Illustration from Amazon.com
The Orchid Paintings of Franz Bauer by William T Stearn and Joyce Stewart
Many experts consider that Franz Bauer was perhaps the greatest botanical painter of all. Many contemporary artists aspire to being able to paint like Franz Bauer - but few can.
I've got this book of his orchid paintings - which is excellent.  It's now more than 20 years old and I bought mine second hand at an RHS Flower Show but it's also available on Amazon.

​
The book includes:
  • a biography of Franz Bauer by William T. Stearn
  • a commentary by Joyce Stewart on the history and cultivation of orchids​
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Herbert Press Ltd; 1st edition (1 Sept. 1993)

BUY THIS BOOK
The Orchid Paintings of Franz Bauer (Art Reference) from Amazon.co.uk
The Orchid Paintings of Franz Bauer from Amazon.com
Other German and Austrian Botanical Artists - on Wikipedia

Albrecht Meyer, Heinrich Fullmauer and Veit Rudolf Speckle
A picture of the draftsmen and the engraver employed by Leonhart Fuchs for Fuchs Great Herbal. Fuchs's work is one of the first scientific works to identify artists involved in its production, and may be the first to include their portraits.
​
David Kandel - 1520-1592
David Kandel was one of the best known pioneers of botanical art and science. However, like in similar cases of many other Renaissance artists, very few facts are verifiable regarding his personal life
Picture
Hortus Botanicus (a botanical garden) - engraved in 1614

FAMOUS ITALIAN BOTANICAL ARTISTS (1400-1900)
​

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
​Da Vinci spent some considerable time around 1481-1482 producing molti fiori ritratti al naturale (many flowers portrayed from nature) 

References:
  • The Flowering of Florence - Botanical Art of the Medici " National Gallery of Art, Washington
The drawing of a Madonna lily or Lilium candidum (Royal Library,Windsor Castle) is one of these early studies and testifies to the artist's innate sensitivity to natural phenomena. He has depicted the delicate fleshiness of the lily's petals and bracts with great skill, punctiliously drawing the blossoms in various stages of flowering, and achieved an almost palpable realism through his use of the mixed technique of chalk and wash. 
The Flowering of Florence
Picture
Da Vinci Drawing of a botanical study, Ornithogalum (Star of Bethlehem)
Jacopo Ligozzi (1547–1627) ​
Described as 'The Audubon of late Renaissance Florence'
He is known best for his depictions of fauna and flora. He was an artist for the Hapsburg Court of the Austrian Empire in Vienna and displayed drawings of animal and botanical specimens. He signed many of his works with the title di minio, miniaturist. In 1576 he went to Florence to work for the Medici. He became the head of the Accademia del Disegno in Florence and the court painter to Grand Dukes Francesco I, Ferdinando I, Cosimo II, and Ferdinando II. His botanical drawings of plants include exquisite depictions of his observations of root systems. He was commissioned to create drawings for the encyclopedic visual catalogue of the plant collections of Bolognese Ulisse Aldrovandi (kept in the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe / Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Uffizi Gallery).  He was the Italian naturalist who was the moving force behind the botanical garden in Bologna.
​
Reference:
  • Jacopo Ligozzi | Getty Museum
  • Jacopo Ligozzi | Uffizi Gallery
Picture
Mandragora Autumnalis, miniature, 1577-1587 by Jacopo Ligozzi
Giovanna Garzoni (1600–1670)
​She became famous for the precision and scientific realism of her tempera and watercolour paintings of botanical subjects - albeit they're typically painted as still life rather than as 'strictly botanical paintings'. In 1616, Garzoni accepted a commission from chemist Giovanni Vorvino of Rome to paint a 
herbarium. The rare books library, Dumbarton Oaks, contains a self-portrait of the elderly artist, in addition to a number of botanical studies. Another album, held by the Accademia di San Luca, the artists' institute to which Garzoni left her estate, includes flower studies and still lifes. Her work was featured in “The Flowering of Florence: Botanical Art for the Medici” at the National Gallery of Art.

Reference:
  • Giovanna Garzoni | Getty Museum
  • Still Life with Bowl of Citrons | Getty Museum
Picture
Still Life with Bowl of Citrons c.1640s tempera on vellum Height: 276 mm (10.87 in). Width: 356 mm (14.02 in). (Getty Centre)

FAMOUS ASIAN BOTANICAL ARTISTS
​

See a separate page on this website about Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900) - of China, India and Japan

FAMOUS AUSTRALASIAN BOTANICAL ARTISTS
​

Australia
​

One of the unique aspects of the botanical art of Australia is a significant amount of early artwork was produced in the past by people who were born elsewhere. 
The botanical artists who first recorded the flora found in Australasia were those on ships on Voyages of Discovery.  Two of the most important were artists selected by Sir Joseph Banks at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. ​
300 Years of Botanical Illustration by Helen Hewson
This book provides an overview of  the history of botanical illustration in Australia.
UK Version: Australia: 300 Years of Botanical Illustration from Amazon.co.uk
USA Version: Australia: 300 Years of Botanical Illustration from Amazon.com
It received rave reviews when first published.

It includes images of the work of the major artists and illustrators of Australian plants. These include 160+ colour illustrations drawn from major herbaria and museums in both Europe and Australia.

The book also describes:
  • the collection and classification of plants for science, as well as
  • the establishment of botanic gardens and herbaria
  • relevant publications relating to the botanical illustration of Australian plants
​and includes:
  • extensive endnotes,
  • an appendix on botanical nomenclature,
  • a glossary,
  • references and an index.​​
The author, Helen Hewson, was Deputy Director of the Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research in Canberra (which includes the Australian National Herbarium), from 1995 to 1997.

Hardcover: 240 pages
UK Publisher: 
Antique Collectors' Club - Art Books (1 Jan. 1999)
USA: 
CSIRO Pub., 1999
​
The cover varies depending on which country it is being published in - by a licensed publisher.
Ferdinand Lukas Bauer  (b. 20 January 1760 in Austria – d. 17 March 1826 Austria)
​
Sir Joseph Banks recruited him as the natural illustrator responsible for a large number of drawings while on an expedition led by Captain Matthew Flinders to explore territory. He helped collect plants, dissected and drew them. ​Cape Bauer, in South Australia, was named after him. The Australian Flower Paintings of Ferdinand Bauer was published in 1976.

​SEE the book 
The Bauers - Masters of Botanical Illustration by Hans Walter Lack  in the German section
Picture
Doryanthes excelsa (Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae plate 13) by Ferdinand Bauer
Sydney Parkinson (c. 1745 - 1771 - born in Scotland). 
​The link in his name is to a special page on this site dedicated to him.
​

​Sir Joseph Banks appointed him as one of two artists to accompany Captain Cook on the Endeavour on his voyage of discovery. As a result, he was the first European artist to visit and draw Australia. In doing so he drew very many of the plants and 243 drawings of Australian plants are now held by the British Museum. He died - aged just 26 - of fever on the voyage home shortly after they ship left Java (Australian Dictionary of Biography)
Picture
a watercolour-on-paper drawing of Banksia ericifolia (1773) by John Frederick Miller based on a partially coloured drawing by Sydney Parkinson,
John Lewin (1770-1819)
Lewin was the first professional artist to illustrate the natural history of Australia including botanical specimens. He was born in England. His father was William Lewin, a fellow of the Linnean Society and author of The Birds of Great Britain (London, 1789-94, second edition, 1795-1801)

REFERENCE:
  • Lewin, John William (1770–1819) by Phyllis Mander-Jones | Australian Dictionary of Biography
  • About John Lewin | State Library of New South Wales
  • John Lewin | Wikipedia
  • John Lewin | Wikimedia Commons
  • John William Lewin - items sold at auction | Invaluable


Picture
Another significant aspect of Australian botanical art from the past is the amount produced by women.
Margaret Flockton (1861 Sussex, England –1963 Sydney, Australia)
One of the premier Botanical Illustration Awards in the world is named after this artist. Between 1901 (age 40) and 1927 she worked as  as a botanical illustrator at the National Herbarium at Sydney’s Botanic Gardens in 1901 age 40. J.H. Maiden, Director of the Gardens considered her to be "a gifted artist" and "the most accomplished botanical artist in New South Wales". She worked with him on the Forest Flora of New South Wales and the Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus flocktoniae, a Western Australian species of Eucalypt is named after her. She was also a renowned lithographic artist and published a book called "Australian Wildflowers", containing 12 plates of coloured lithographs.
See also 20th Century Botanical Artists

Lists of botanical painters:
  • Biographical notes on plant collectors and illustrators or others relevant to Australian botany
  • Botanical Artists with examples of their coloured illustrations of Australian plants (with links to biographical notes)  | Australian National Botanic Gardens Canberra
  • Botanical Artists | Australian Dictionary of Biography (somewhat partial!)
Picture
Beech or White Beech, Gmelina leichhardtii (F.Muell.) Benth., Plate 33 from Forest Flora of New South Wales illustrated by Margaret Flockton
Women Of Flowers - Botanical Art In Australia From The 1830s to the 1960s by Leonie Norton
​The book is both a celebration of 10 colonial women artists who became botanical artists in the 19th and 20th centuries - and their artwork.
Paperback | Publisher: National Library Of Australia (2009)

BUY THIS BOOK
Women Of Flowers - Botanical Art In Australia From The 1830s to the 1960s from Amazon.co.uk
Women of Flowers: Botanical Art in Australia From the 1830s to the 1960s from Amazon.com

FAMOUS BOTANICAL ARTISTS OF NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA
​

Picture
Botanical illustration and description by Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft of the Cuban Blue Passion Flower, Vol. I, Pl. 25, ca. 1826.
“the most important corpus of plant illustrations in Cuba’s colonial history.”
Emilio Cueto, author of “Illustrating Cuba’s Flora and Fauna”
READ / VIEW THE BOOK
Specimens of the plants and fruits of the Island of Cuba 
​by Mrs A. K 
Wollstonecraft (1826)
  • Volume 1
  • Volume 2
  • Volume 3
It contains: 
  • 121 illustrated plates 
  •  220 pages of English-language descriptions relating historical facts, indigenous applications, poetry, and personal observations. ​
The book was digitised by Cornell University and made available via the Hathi Trust
Mrs Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft (b. 1791 Rindge, New Hampshire, USA - d. 1828 (aged 36) Matanzas, Cuba)
Mrs Wollstonecraft was little known as a pioneering botanical illustrator until Cornell University and the Hathi digitised and published three volumes of her notes and illustrations about the plants and fruits of Cuba.  She moved to Cuba - to live in an American expatriate community of convalescents in Matanzas - after the death of her husband in New Orleans in 1817. She began studying the plant life of Cuba and making botanical and ethnobotanical notes and illustrations of her findings. Her book was never published in her lifetime.She died in Cuba on May 16, 1828, at the age of 36, soon after sending her manuscript to publishers in New York.  It was donated to Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) of Cornell University

Interestingly it was lost for a long time because it was listed as by AH Wollstonecroft (as clearly indicated on the title pages of Volumes 1 and 2) when her married surname was actually Wollstonecraft.

REFERENCE:
  • Botanical illustration pioneer goes from obscurity to online | Cornell Chronicle (30.1.19)
  • A Forgotten Botanist’s Stunning 19th-Century Manuscript Is Now Online | Atlas Obscura (5.2.19)
  • 'Lost' book of exquisite scientific drawings rediscovered after 190 years | National Geographic (22.4.19)
  • Anne Kingsbury Wollstonecraft | Wikipedia​
​[Note: She was married to Charles Wollstonecraft, the brother of author and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft renowned for being an advocate for the rights of women and uncle to Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein.”]

FAMOUS BOTANICAL ARTISTS OF SOUTH AMERICA
​

Francisco Xavier Matis Machecha ​(1763-1851)
born 1763 in Guaduas and died 1851 in Bogotá. he was the botanical pupil & close painter-assistant of José Celestino Mutis. You can view his paintings online

The image in the banner at the top of the page is from a page about violas in the Hortus Eystettensis drawn by Basilius Besler. The image comes from the images uploaded to Flickr uploaded by the Biodiversity Heritage Library
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