BOTANICAL ART & ARTISTS
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    • What is Botanical Art?
    • What is Botanical Illustration?
    • Botanical Art History Books >
      • The Art of Botanical Illustration (Blunt)
      • Book Review: Treasures of Botanical Art
    • Herbals
    • Florilegia and Flora
    • Patrons of Botanical Art >
      • About Leonhart Fuchs
      • About Basilius Besler
    • Past Masters - Botanical Art and Illustration >
      • About Maria Sibylla Merian
      • About Elizabeth Blackwell
      • About Georg Dionysius Ehret
      • About Franz Bauer
      • About Sydney Parkinson
      • About Pierre-Joseph Redouté
      • About Marianne North
    • Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900)
    • 20th & 21st Century Botanical Artists >
      • About Arthur Harry Church
      • About Margaret Mee
      • About Mary Grierson
      • About Raymond Booth
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      • About Pandora Sellars
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      • ARCHIVE: Shirley Sherwood Gallery Exhibitions
    • Hunt International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration
    • UK >
      • Permanent Collections (UK)
      • Botanical Art Exhibitions at Major UK Galleries & Museums >
        • ARCHIVE: Major Gallery Exhibitions
      • Botanical Art Exhibitions in England and Wales >
        • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in the UK
        • ARCHIVE: Reviews of Annual Exhibitions by the Society of Botanical Artists
      • Botanical Art Exhibitions in Scotland >
        • ARCHIVE: Scotland - Botanical Art Exhibitions
    • North America >
      • Permanent Collections (USA)
      • ARCHIVE Past ASBA Exhibitions in the USA
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in the USA
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Canada
    • Europe >
      • Permanent Collections (Europe)
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Europe
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Exhibitions in Germany
      • ARCHIVE: ​Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Ireland
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Exhibitions in Russia
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      • Margaret Flockton Award
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Australasia
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      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Asia
    • Africa
    • ARCHIVE: World Wide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018
  • Education
    • NEW BOOKS about Botanical Art and Illustration >
      • NEW in 2020: Books about Botanical Art & Illustration
      • NEW IN 2019: Books about Botanical Art & Illustration
      • NEW in 2018: Books about Botanical Art & Illustration
    • Best Botanical Art Instruction Books >
      • Best Instruction Books by Botanical Art Societies >
        • The Art of Botanical Painting - review
        • The Botanical Palette - review
        • Botanical Sketchbook - review
      • Best Instruction Books about Botanical Illustration >
        • Botanical Illustration - Books by Bobbi Angell
        • Botanical Illustration (Oxley) - review
      • Best Instruction Books by top Artists / Teachers >
        • Books By Billy Showell
        • Books - the Eden Project
      • Best Botanical Drawing Instruction Books (Pencils) >
        • Botanical Painting with Coloured Pencils - review
      • e-Booklets / digital guides
    • Tips and Techniques >
      • Tips from RHS Gold Medal Winners
      • Preparation and set-up
      • Botanical Sketching and Sketchbooks
      • Design and composition
      • Colour
      • Pen and Ink
      • How to draw and paint trees and leaves
    • Botanical Art Video Tips >
      • Video Tips: Watercolour Painting
      • Video Tips Coloured Pencils
      • Video Tips: Pencil drawing
      • Video Tips: Painting Flowers
      • Video Tips: Painting Leaves & Trees
    • Online Botanical Art Instruction >
      • CHECKLIST: FAQS about Online Learning
      • ONLINE TIMELINE
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The History of Botanical Art and Illustration

This section is about the tradition and history of botanical art and illustration around the world
and includes vintage botanical illustrations.


This is a developing compendium of information and images
about botanical art and artists from the past
with links to relevant websites and books.

​

The History of Botanical Art and Illustration shares information about:
  • What is botanical art and illustration
  • Books about the history of botanical art
  • ​Online galleries of collections of historical botanical and herbal art
  • Past Masters - Famous Botanical Artists
    • organised by countries and timeline
    • plus individual pages for leading botanical artists of the past (see below for "Past Masters with a page on this website")
  • Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900)
  • 20th Century Botanical Artists
  • Printmaking and Botanical Illustration (in development)
  • Landmark Publications - Herbals
  • Landmark publications - Florilegium
  • Botanical Photographers​

Click the link to visit the page

You can also see images of Permanent collections in Museums and Art Galleries in the Exhibitions section.
Picture
Narcissi in Basilius Besler's Hortus Eystettensis: Classis Vernae (1613) (page 52) (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Past Masters on this website - with a page (or planned page)
​

  • Name in BOLD - means there is an individual page on this site - either published or currently in development
  • "In Development" - means a page has been started and is currently in draft and I hope to publish soon. However I collect material slowly over time and only develop the full page when I've got enough.
Picture
Peonia by Claude Aubriet

15th/16th Century  - botanical enquiry
​

In development
  • Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) who studied plants as a botanist and then drew them
  • Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) - German Renaissance painter-printmaker who produced naturalistic paintings of wild plants

16th Century - creators of Herbals and Florilegia
​

  • ​Leonart Fuchs (1501-1566) - best known for the development of an early and important Herbal
  • Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (1533 - 1588) - whose artwork represents a transition from the medieval focus on the religious symbolism of plants in art to a Renaissance emphasis on scientific inquiry and beauty when creating botanical illustration
  • Basilius Besler (1561-1629) - patron of the illustrated book about the greatest garden of the 16th century - the Hortus Eystettensis
Picture
Corona imperialis polyanthos - from the Hortus Eystettensis

17th century - the start of exploration
​

  • ​Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) - Botanical & Natural History Artist
​
​In Development
  • Giovanna Garzoni (1600–1670) - famous for the precision and scientific realism of her paintings of botanical subjects
  • Nicolas Robert (1614-1685) - painted flowers on vellum for the French aristocracy
  • Alexander Marshal (1620-1682) - created a florilegium
Picture
Two apples with a Gypsy Moth (crop) by Maria Sibylla Merian

18th Century - exploration and botanical illustration
​

  • ​Franz Bauer (1758 - 1840) - employed at Kew Gardens as the 'Botanick Painter to His Majesty' 
  • Elizabeth Blackwell (1707 - 1758) - the first British woman to produce a herbal and the first woman to engrave as well as draw plants.
  • Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770) - developed the Linnaean style of botanical illustration.
  • Sydney Parkinson (1745 - 1771)- painter on expeditions to the South Seas and Australia
  • Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759 - 1840) - court painter

In Development:
  • Claude Aubriet (1665-1742) - Royal Botanical Painter in France in early 18th century
  • Mary Delany (1700-1788) who created botanical collages known as "paper-mosaicks"
  • The Dietzsch Family - including Barbara Regina Dietzsch (1706–1783) 
  • ​Ferdinand Bauer (1760 - 1826) - botanical painter on exploration of Australia 
  • Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775 – 1840) - considered one of the best botanical illustrators of the Napoleonic Era and afterwards
Picture
A fig tree by Georg Ehret
Treasures of Botanical Art

This is the catalogue of the first ever exhibition in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens.

​As you can imagine the organisers put in extra effort to make this a superb exhibition. 

One of the interesting things about the exhibition and the book is that the images are largely organised according to themes. This means we can see historical and contemporary images presented side by side. 

It also provides information about the individual artists.

​Read my review: Book review: Treasures of Botanical Art
​

This book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It proved very popular on publication and I'm sure it will become a landmark publication over time.
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Kew Publishing;
1st Edition published: 1 April 2008

Rated: 4.9 out of 5 stars by 10 UK readers
BUY IN UK: Treasures of Botanical Art: Icons from the Shirley Sherwood and Kew Collections (Royal Botanic Garden)
BUY IN USA Treasures of Botanical Art: Icons from the Shirley Sherwood and Kew Collections

19th Century - continuing exploration
​

  • ​Marianne North (1830-1890) - traveller who painted over 800 paintings depicting over 900 species from 17 countries in 14 years​
In development:
  • ​​Walter Hood Fitch (1817 – 1892) was a botanical illustrator​ who produced 2,700 plates for Curtis Botanical Magazine

20th Century - contemporary botanical illustration
​

  • Arthur Harry Church (1865- 1937) botanist who draw botanical illustrations focusing on anatomy
  • Margaret Mee (1909 - 1988) - painted the Amazon Rainforest
  • Raymond Booth (1929-2015) - painted Japonica Magnifica - and his own garden
  • Rory McEwen (1932 - 1982) - painter on vellum - and inspirer of botanical artists
  • Pandora Sellars (1936-2017) - painter of leaves and tropical plants and a past master of composition
In Development
  • Margaret Lilian Flockton (1861-1953) - the first botanical illustrator at Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney
  • Albert Robert Valentien (1862–1925) who documented 1,200 watercolor "plant portraits" of native California wildflowers, grasses, ferns, and trees.
  • Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) a Scottish architect, designer, and water colourist
  • Lilian Snelling (1879–1972) "probably the most important British botanical artist of the first half of the 20th century"
  • The Rev. William Keble Martin (1877-1969) a Church of England priest, botanist and botanical illustrator who produced the Concise British Flora in Colour.
  • Stella Ross-Craig (1906–2006) who produced Drawings of British Plants in 31 parts
  • Mary Anderson Grierson (1912-2012) a Welsh-born Scottish botanical artist and staff illustrator at Kew Gardens
  • Margaret Stones (1920-2018) - who probably produced more botanical illustrations for Curtis's Magazine in the 20th century than any other artist

HOME
MORE BOTANICAL ART HISTORY 
  • What is Botanical Art?
  • The Best Books about Botanical Artists & Illustrators
  • Herbals 
  • Florilegia 
  • Botanical and Herbal Art Online - galleries of collections of botanical art from the past
MORE ARTISTS FROM THE PAST
  • Past Masters 
  • Patrons of Botanical Art
  • Famous Asian Botanical Artists
  • 20th Century Artists
PAGES DEDICATED TO NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS
Individual Patrons
  • Leonart Fuchs
  • Basilius Besler
Individual Artists up to 1900
  • 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)
Individual 20th Century Artists
  • Raymond Booth
  • Arthur Harry Church 
  • Margaret Mee
  • Rory McEwen 
  • Pandora Sellars

NEXT: ORGANISATIONS
Resources about  Botanical Art and For Botanical Artists
ABOUT: About the Author | Contact | Testimonials | Privacy Policy                  COPYRIGHT 2015-22: Katherine Tyrrell  all rights reserved.
NEWS 
News Blog about artists, awards, exhibitions etc.
HISTORY
- Best Books about Botanical Art History
- History of Botanical Art 
- Herbals
- Florilegia
- Patrons
​
- Past Masters - Botanical Art and Illustration
​- Famous Asian Past Masters (600-1900
- 20th & 21st Century Botanical Artists
- Botanical Art Online
CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
- Botanical Artists around the world 

EXHIBITIONS
-
Calls for Entries
- Exhibitions around the world
- Online Exhibitions
- RHS Exhibitions
- Hunt Exhibitions
​
ORGANISATIONS
- Botanical Art Societies - national / regional / local
- 
Florilegium & Groups
- Botanical Art Groups on Facebook

EDUCATION
- Tips and Techniques
- Best Botanical Art Instruction Books
- Directory of Teachers
- Directory of Courses
- Online Botanical Art Courses
- Diplomas and Certificates
​
- Talks, Lectures and Tours

ART MATERIALS (Paper / Vellum)

BOTANY FOR ARTISTS
-
 Scientific Botanical Illustration
- Best Botany Books for Artists
- Plant Names & Botanical Latin

BOTANIC GARDENS & Herbaria
​​​FEEDBACK 
Please send me . 
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- any suggestions for what you'd like to see on this website 

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Contact me if you'd like to promote workshops and courses on this site.

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Product & company names may be trademarks of their respective owners
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  • Home
    • Site Index
  • NEWS
    • NEWS blog subscription
  • HISTORY
    • What is Botanical Art?
    • What is Botanical Illustration?
    • Botanical Art History Books >
      • The Art of Botanical Illustration (Blunt)
      • Book Review: Treasures of Botanical Art
    • Herbals
    • Florilegia and Flora
    • Patrons of Botanical Art >
      • About Leonhart Fuchs
      • About Basilius Besler
    • Past Masters - Botanical Art and Illustration >
      • About Maria Sibylla Merian
      • About Elizabeth Blackwell
      • About Georg Dionysius Ehret
      • About Franz Bauer
      • About Sydney Parkinson
      • About Pierre-Joseph Redouté
      • About Marianne North
    • Famous Asian Botanical Artists (600-1900)
    • 20th & 21st Century Botanical Artists >
      • About Arthur Harry Church
      • About Margaret Mee
      • About Mary Grierson
      • About Raymond Booth
      • About Rory McEwen
      • About Pandora Sellars
    • Botanical Photographers
    • Botanical and Herbal Art Online
  • ARTISTS
    • Botanical Artists in the UK
    • Botanical Artists in North America
    • Botanical Artists in Europe
    • Botanical Artists in Australia and New Zealand
    • Botanical Artists in Asia
    • Botanical Artists in Africa
    • Botanical Artists in Latin America
    • Botanical Printmakers, Photographers, Sculptors et al
    • The Jill Smythies Award
    • Botanical Artists on Facebook
    • Botanical Art Blogs
  • Exhibitions
    • Calls for Entries - OPEN exhibitions
    • Online Exhibitions >
      • ARCHIVE: Online Botanical Art Exhibitions
    • RHS Botanical Art & Photography Shows >
      • ARCHIVE RHS Botanical Art Shows 2007-2024
      • Exhibit Titles at RHS Botanical Art Shows
      • RHS Portfolio Photography (Botanical / Horticultural)
    • The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art >
      • ARCHIVE: Shirley Sherwood Gallery Exhibitions
    • Hunt International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration
    • UK >
      • Permanent Collections (UK)
      • Botanical Art Exhibitions at Major UK Galleries & Museums >
        • ARCHIVE: Major Gallery Exhibitions
      • Botanical Art Exhibitions in England and Wales >
        • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in the UK
        • ARCHIVE: Reviews of Annual Exhibitions by the Society of Botanical Artists
      • Botanical Art Exhibitions in Scotland >
        • ARCHIVE: Scotland - Botanical Art Exhibitions
    • North America >
      • Permanent Collections (USA)
      • ARCHIVE Past ASBA Exhibitions in the USA
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in the USA
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Canada
    • Europe >
      • Permanent Collections (Europe)
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Europe
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Exhibitions in Germany
      • ARCHIVE: ​Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Ireland
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Exhibitions in Russia
    • Australasia >
      • Margaret Flockton Award
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Australasia
    • Asia >
      • ARCHIVE: Past Botanical Art Exhibitions in Asia
    • Africa
    • ARCHIVE: World Wide Exhibition of Botanical Art 2018
  • Education
    • NEW BOOKS about Botanical Art and Illustration >
      • NEW in 2020: Books about Botanical Art & Illustration
      • NEW IN 2019: Books about Botanical Art & Illustration
      • NEW in 2018: Books about Botanical Art & Illustration
    • Best Botanical Art Instruction Books >
      • Best Instruction Books by Botanical Art Societies >
        • The Art of Botanical Painting - review
        • The Botanical Palette - review
        • Botanical Sketchbook - review
      • Best Instruction Books about Botanical Illustration >
        • Botanical Illustration - Books by Bobbi Angell
        • Botanical Illustration (Oxley) - review
      • Best Instruction Books by top Artists / Teachers >
        • Books By Billy Showell
        • Books - the Eden Project
      • Best Botanical Drawing Instruction Books (Pencils) >
        • Botanical Painting with Coloured Pencils - review
      • e-Booklets / digital guides
    • Tips and Techniques >
      • Tips from RHS Gold Medal Winners
      • Preparation and set-up
      • Botanical Sketching and Sketchbooks
      • Design and composition
      • Colour
      • Pen and Ink
      • How to draw and paint trees and leaves
    • Botanical Art Video Tips >
      • Video Tips: Watercolour Painting
      • Video Tips Coloured Pencils
      • Video Tips: Pencil drawing
      • Video Tips: Painting Flowers
      • Video Tips: Painting Leaves & Trees
    • Online Botanical Art Instruction >
      • CHECKLIST: FAQS about Online Learning
      • ONLINE TIMELINE
    • International Directory: Botanical Art Teachers
    • International Directory of Botanical Art Courses >
      • UK: Botanical Art Courses
      • North America: Botanical Art Courses
      • Europe: Botanical Art Courses & Holidays
      • Australasia: Botanical Art Courses
    • Artist Residencies, Scholarships and Bursaries
    • Diplomas and Certificates >
      • SBA Diploma Assignments
    • Distance Learning Courses
    • Talks, Lectures & Tours
    • Botanical Education on Facebook
  • Materials
    • Paper
    • Vellum
  • Groups
    • National & Regional Botanical Art Societies
    • Florilegium Societies & Other Groups
    • Finnis Scott Foundation: Botanical Art Prize
    • Botanical Art Groups on Facebook
  • Botany
    • Why botany matters to artists
    • Botany Books for artists >
      • Botany for the Artist (Simblet)
      • The Art of Plant Evolution
      • The Concise British Flora in Colour (1965)
    • Scientific botanical illustration
    • Plant Forms and Anatomy
    • Plant Evolution and Taxonomy
    • Plant Names and Botanical Latin
    • Botanical Dictionaries
    • How to Identify Plants
    • Recording a Plant / Sketchbooks >
      • Plant Pressing for your own Herbarium
    • Botanic Gardens & Herbaria >
      • Global and National Networks
      • Herbaria, Seed Banks and Fungaria
      • Old Botanic & Physic Gardens in London
      • Botanic Gardens in the UK
      • Botanic Gardens in Ireland
      • Botanic Gardens in Europe
      • Botanic Gardens in the USA
      • Botanic Gardens in Canada
      • Botanic Gardens in Asia
      • Botanic Gardens in Australia
    • Blogs about Plants and Flowers
  • Contact
    • About Katherine Tyrrell
    • About Reviews
    • Privacy Policy