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:
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
​

​
​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

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
MORE BOTANICAL ART HISTORY MORE ARTISTS FROM THE PAST
PAGES DEDICATED TO NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS
Individual Patrons Individual Artists up to 1900
Individual 20th Century Artists
NEXT: ORGANISATIONS