I've been working on my page About Georg Dionysius Ehret for some time. In fact some of you have found it even though I haven't announced it until today! It wasn't so much a question as transferring existing content from its previous incarnation to this website so much as improving on the content. In particular, I've been working on the timeline/biography (so it's an easier read) and improving some of the images and the narrative about some of the publications he worked on. It's certainly the case that I now understand Georg Ehret much better than ever before! In summary:
The page contains images and links to more information about
If anybody's got a useful link that's worth sharing with others I'll be pleased to add it it in to this new page about one of the most famous botanical artists of all time.
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Today is the 34th anniversary of the death of Rory McEwen (age 50). Learn more about the man, his artistic practice, the timeline of his life and the botanical paintings he produced You are very welcome to delve into my very long webpage about About Rory McEwen
This provides:
Maria Merian's Butterflies closes at the Queen's Gallery in London tomorrow. This might seem like an odd time to be doing a review however I only visited for the first time on Friday - having been meaning to visit for months! Then it occurred to me that very many people will not have had a chance to view it even if they had read a more timely review. Consequently this review is going to focus very much on what I learned about her work while viewing the images on display - and reading the very informative labels which were well up to the normal standard of the Queens Gallery. It covers:
I've started to update my page About Maria Sibylla Merian with findings from the exhibition and will continue to do in the next few days. You can find out more about her and where you can see images of her artwork online on this page. Royal Collection: What's different about these images?The exhibition is based on the book and the images on vellum which were acquired by King George III in the latter part of the 17th century. Before joining the Royal Collection they had previously been in the ownership of the botanist John Hill and the physician Richard Mead. The book on display (in the picture above) is a rare counterproof edition of Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (the Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname) which she produced and published in 1705 following her trip to Surinam. This edition was also hand coloured by Merian and her daughters making it both rare and very special.
The images on the walls are all watercolour paintings on vellum - hand painted by Merian. However the painting comes on top of a counterproof copy of an engraving used for the various insects e.g. the caterpillar, the chrysalis and the butterfly. It seems likely that she was using only part-finished engravings for the paintings on vellum. This means the insects are as precise as Merian wanted but that the remainder of the painting is much more like conventional watercolour paintings on vellum. "Counterproof" means that it is a reversed print taken from a fresh "proof by contact" impression. It's usually used to study the state of the engraved plate. However the other consequence is that:
It's possible that she may have been trying out different compositions of plants and additional insects for the engravings. The exhibition highlighted (see below) that not all the insects were in the same place on the engraving printed in the book when compared to the watercolour painting on vellum. There was scope to change the position. About Elizabeth Blackwell is a new page on this website and can be found in the section in History devoted to Past Masters of Botanical Art and Illustration. The content has largely transferred in from another site. However I've taken the opportunity to update and improve it! The page covers the life of Elizabeth Blackwell, her importance to botanical illustration and the Herbal she created. This includes her illustrations - drawn, etched and engraved and hand coloured - of the "most useful plants which are now used in the practice of Physick" as found in the Chelsea Physic Garden in the 1730s. An illustrated Herbal of this kind had never been produced before in the UK - and Sir Hans Sloane thought it was about time there was one! A Curious Herbal was published in weekly parts between issued in weekly parts - each containing four plates and accompanying text - over 125 weeks between 1737 and 1739. The story of her life is long and complicated - and her husband's even more so. Suffice to say this book and the illustrations it includes were produced to raise funds to discharge her husband from his debts and stay in the debtors's prison where he was confined! Reference: For those interested in Butturbur!
Brazil: a powerhouse of plants: Margaret Mee, pioneering artist and her legacy opened yesterday at Kew Gardens. The exhibition is on display at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art until 29 August 2016, 10am to 5pm. The aim of the exhibition is to highlight artwork of the botanical flora of Brazil by various artists past and present. It includes artwork from the collections of both Kew gardens and Dr Shirley Sherwood. The paintings of Margaret Mee - an English artist who went to live in Brazil - are a prominent feature of the exhibition. Mee's 15 trips into the Amazon Rain Forest recorded the diversity of its plant life - and new plants were also discovered on her trips. As well as her paintings, visitors to the exhibition will also be able to see to trace her footsteps via a map of her travels and see other artifacts from her expeditions - including paintbrushes, paint pots and sketchbooks. You can find out more - About Margaret Mee - on a NEW page on this website The exhibition also includes:
18th Century:
You can read more about the exhibition in this post Discovering Brazil in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art by Joanne Yeomans in the Kew Gardens Library, Art and Archives blog There is also a linked exhibition - Orchids 2016. If visiting the exhibition before 6th March you can also view the transformation of the Princess of Wales Conservatory into a celebration of Brazil’s plant life and habitats. Q. Why carry a magnifier when visiting botanical art exhibitions? A. To see the botanical art better I never used to until I visited the Rory McEwen exhibition in 2013 at Kew Gardens. That was when I realised I was only really able to appreciate part of the quality of the painting. I just couldn't view the way he painted like a miniaturist on a larger scale unless I could look at the paintings in more detail. Once I used a magnifier I was able to see much more clearly how he had painted different paintings and how his technique started and developed over time. Yesterday I went back to Kew for the last day of the Nature's Bounty exhibition - with my magnifier. My intention was to take a closer look at a number of paintings. One of these was the Beetroot by Susannah Blaxill. This is a painting which was purchased by Shirley Sherwood from Spink in 1994. However it has been so popular and so frequently requested for exhibitions around the world that she'has never been able to hang it on her own walls. It's certainly a painting which is much admired and remembered after it has been seen in person by botanical art lovers all over the world. I'm guessing very many watercolour painters and others would probably think that Susannah has wonderful control over her watercolour glazes. Maybe that she applies a stipple in places using a brush designed for a miniaturist. However yesterday I discovered that virtually all of this painting was painted using dry brush HATCHING techniques and optical colour mixes. Virtually anywhere I looked at the painting using my magnifier - apart from the leaf storks - I could see lots and lots of tiny hatching marks in different colours. None of this was apparent when viewed normally. The painting is in effect a huge optical illusion. As somebody who adores colour, is an inveterate hatcher and applies coloured pencils in exactly the same way I was extremely pleased.
I eulogised about her charcoal work in my review of the exhibition. Now I'll be looking very closely at any and all her work when I see it in future. There is no doubt that she is one of the great contemporary botanical artists.
I've started to move the content from my 'old' websites about famous botanical artists to this website. The first artist to arrive is Maria Sibylla Merian - a very special botanical and natural history artist. Find out more about here on her NEW page About Maria Sibylla Merian - Botanical & Natural History Artist. (Part of the History section on Past Masters of Botanical Art & Illustration) Her particular talent was to demonstrate the relationship between the insect world and the plants that formed part of their world. She recorded and illustrated the life cycles of 186 insect species. She is also one of the pioneering female botanical artists who was a true European and a traveller. Her family were Swiss but she was born in Germany on April 2, 1647 and she later settled in Amsterdam. The work for which she will always be remembered is Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium. This book illustrated her findings about the Insects of Surinam and their relationship with plants and is published in Dutch and Latin. The page includes:
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AuthorKatherine Tyrrell writes about botanical art and artists and has followers all over the world. You can also find her at linktr.ee BAA Visitors so far....
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