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About
​Sydney Parkinson
(1745-1771)

The botanical artist who sailed on the Endeavour, with Captain Cook,
to South America, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia.

This page is about the artist, his artwork and the story of its publication in Banks's Florilegium

Sydney Parkinson (1745 - 1771) - the botanical artist on the Endeavour
​

Sydney Parkinson was the botanical draughtsman who accompanied Joseph Banks on Captain Cook's journey on the Endeavour to the South Seas and Australia .

He was the first European artist to
  • draw and paint plants collected from places on the exploratory voyages
  • set foot on Australian soil,
  • to draw an authentic Australian landscape, and
  • to portray the indigenous people from direct observation.

Significantly, Banks's Florilegium would not exist without the work that Sydney Parkinson carried out as botanical artist on the Endeavour
There is very little information about Parkinson online or in books and this site continues to be a work in progress.

This site provides links to places online where you can find out
  • About Sydney Parkinson - more about Parkinson - his life and his death,
  • The Voyages - the voyages with the Endeavour and Captain Cook, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander; and
  • The Artwork - what he produced and where you can see it
  • Banks's Florilegium - what happened to the drawings and paintings when they returned to the UK - including the development and publication of the engravings in the last 30 years

An overview of Sydney Parkinson
​

Biography

Sydney Parkinson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1745 and was originally a woollen-draper.

He studied drawing and became proficient at drawing plants and flowers. He decided to move to London to improve his education and experience.

Joseph Banks then became a significant person in what happened next.  First, a young Joseph Banks discovered and then hired Parkinson to draw plants at the botanical garden at Kew.

The Voyage of the Endeavour 

In 1768, he was again hired by Joseph Banks as the botanical draughtsman to draw the plants on the next voyage on the Endeavour with Captain Cook to South America, Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia. 

​Initially he was accompanied by Alexander Buchan, the topographical draughtsman - but he died in Tahiti and it's clear Parkinson also took on some of the work Buchan would have done.

Sydney lived and worked on board ship (not a level surface!) in a small cabin surrounded by hundreds of specimens. In Tahiti he was plagued by swarms of flies which ate the paint as he worked.  
You can read more about the voyage in his Journal (see below)

On the return trip the ship Endeavour was besieged by illness and Sydney Parkinson contracted dysentary at Princes Island, on the way to Cape Town.  ​He died on January 26th 1771 and was buried at sea. Banks paid his outstanding salary to his brother.
Picture
Portrait of Sydney Parkinson (1745–1771), botanical artist. It was the frontispiece to Parkinson's Journal of a voyage to the South Seas
Banksia integrifolia watercolour from Banks' Florilegium
Banksia integrifolia watercolour by Sydney Parkinson from Banks' Florilegium

Commemoration

Apart from his artwork being archived and published (see below), Parkinson is commemorated through the naming of:
  • a plant - Ficus parkinsonii was named in his honour; ( This plant was collected by Banks, 23rd August, 1770. Booby Island Torres Strait, 10 deg 37 S. lat., 140 deg 50E) and
  • a bird - Procellaria parkinsoni which has as its common and scientific name of Parkinson's Petrel
ONLINE REFERENCES:
  • Parkinson, Sydney (1745? - 1771) Biographical Entry - Australian Dictionary of Biography Online - Parkinson, Sydney (1745? - 1771) - Parkinson was the first artist to set foot on Australian soil, to draw an authentic Australian landscape, and to portray Aboriginals from direct observation.
  • Dictionary of Australian Artists Online (DAAO) - Sydney Parkinson - Parkinson was indefatigable. Apart from the many drawings of coastal views, natives and landscapes made on the Endeavour's voyage, now held in the British Museum (Department of Manuscripts), he made 955 drawings of flora - 675 sketches and 280 finish
  • National Museum of Australia - Sydney Parkinson's account - European voyages to the Australian continentEMPIRE Endeavour artist Sydney Parkinson's Journal Account, published 1773
  • Rocky Road: Sydney Parkinson - When the 25-year-old Joseph Banks boarded the Endeavour with James Cook, he brought with him, among others, two artists. Much could go wrong on 18th-century ship voyages, and much did on the Endeavour. 
  • Sydney Parkinson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia - Sydney Parkinson (c. 1745 - 26 January 1771) was a Scottish Quaker, botanical illustrator and natural history artist.
  • Sydney Parkinson (c.1745-1771) - PlantExplorers.com™ - Parkinson, Sydney c.1745-1771, Botanical artist
  • Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria - Parkinson, Sydney - Council of Heads of Australasian HerbariaAustralian National Herbarium BIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
  • Rex Rienits, 'Parkinson, Sydney (1745? - 1771)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, Melbourne University Press, 1967, p. 314.
  • Britten, J. (ed.), Illustrations of Australian Plants Collected in 1770 during Captain Cook's Voyage, London, 1905. [detail]
  • Rienits, R.; Rienits, T., Early Artists of Australia, Sydney, 1963. [detail]
  • Smith, B., European Vision and the South Pacific, 1768-1850, Oxford, 1960. [detail]
  • J.H.Maiden Sir Joseph Banks: the Father of Australia (1909);
  • M.Rix The Art of the Plant World (1981);
  • D.J.Carr Sydney Parkinson: Artist of Cooks Endeavour Voyage (1983);
  • J.Phipps Artist's Gardens (c.1986);
  • L.deBray The Art of Botanical Illustration (1989);
  • J.Kerr The Dictionary of Australian Artists (1992);
  • W.Blunt & W.T.Stearn The Art of Botanical Illustration 2nd edn (1994);
  • C.Mills Images from Nature (1998);
  • T.Rice Voyages of Discovery (1999); H.Hewson Australia - 300 Years of Botanical Illustration (1999)
RECOMMENDED: Joseph Banks' Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook's First Voyage
​by David Mabberley, Mel Gooding, Joseph Studholme
Picture
Dazzling in its detail and copiously annotated by modern experts, a beautiful tribute to a scientific expedition that is still yielding knowledge more than two centuries after it was undertaken.
— Natural History
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Average Customer Rating out of 5 stars:​
  • in UK: 5.0 (based on 7 customer reviews)
  • in USA: 5.0 based on 3 customer reviews​
This is an exceptional book in terms of its size, history and the quality of the current publication.
Never published in Banks's lifetime, this is the very first time that these images have been published in an affordable edition for the botanical art fan who likes to have a proper copy of the original plates.
It's now an even more affordable price than it was when it was first published in 2017.
Parkinson had been unable to complete his paintings - but he'd produced over 900 drawings/sketches and paintings.

Following his return from his voyage around the world with Captain Cook, Banks commissioned more than 700 engravings - using Parkinson's work as reference - between 1772 and 1784 . 

​These engravings are now known collectively as Banks’ Florilegium. However the Florilegium was never published in Banks’ lifetime (read the story below)

In 1990, a complete set in colour was issued in a boxed edition (limited to 100 copies) under the direction of the British Museum - but was very expensive to purchase.

For this 2017 book, a limited set of full colour plates were chosen for the publication. It includes
  • a total of 175 illustrations (including black and white)
  • Expert commentary on each plant and plate is provided by botanist David Mabberley
  • Text relating to "The Making of Banks Florilegium II" historical background of the voyage and project is provided by art historian Mel Gooding
  • Joe Studholme describes the history of the modern printing.
​Hardcover: 320 pages (​no e-book available)
Artwork: 175+ illustrations in color and black and white
Size: This is a BIG book
​10.7 in x 14.3 in x 1.4 in | 355 mm x 265 mm
Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd; 
Publication date: (1st edition): 19 October 2017

This is not a cheap book but costs far less than the limited edition version.
​My copy was given to me as a Christmas present - and it makes an excellent present!  Quite unlike anything else I've ever received.

BUY IN UK
Joseph Banks' Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook's First Voyage from Amazon UK

​BUY IN THE USA
Joseph Banks' Florilegium: Botanical Treasures from Cook's First Voyage

Sydney Parkinson's artwork
​

After very many years, Sydney Parkinson is finally getting recognition for the very valuable work he performed on such an important voyage of discovery.

Parkinson completed
  • 280 finished and botanically accurate paintings and
  • over 900 sketches and drawings.

​His works have been commemorated in
  • the 35 volumes of a published Florilegium (Banks Florilegium) and
  • in digital form by the Natural History Museum (see below for more about these)

​The originals are kept in the Botany Library at the Natural 
History Museum.
Picture
Banksia dentata watercolour from Bank's Florilegium

​The Endeavour Botanical Illustrations of Sydney Parkinson
​

The first journey around the world on the HMS Endeavour (1768-1771) was both a voyage of historical significance and scientific discovery.

Sydney Parkinson sketched the plants the explorers found and collected on the voyage to Australia, His role was as artist working with Joseph Banks and Carol Solander.

The Endeavour Botanical Illustrations are now held in the Botany Library at the Natural History Museum 
(The link is to an image gallery of botanical art from the first voyage of the Endeavour.)


The Botany Library
  • holds all of the surviving botanical artwork from Captain James Cook's first Pacific voyage by the artists on the voyage
  • Sydney Parkinson (1745-1771),
  • John Frederick Miller and
  • Frederick Polydore Nodder, among others.
These artists' works feature in the finished watercolours made during and after the voyage, between 1773 and 1784.

The Endeavour illustrations were once part of the famous Banksian Collections that were given to the British Museum's Trustees in 1827. However the British Museum's Museum's Department of Natural History - and the associated collections including the plant and animal specimens with their directly associated artwork and documents  - relocated to South Kensington in the late nineteenth century. The new site became known as the Natural History Museum.

Since then the NHM has developed a microsite for all the materials which tell the story of the journey which are now archived at the Museum. It's also possible to make an appointment to view the artwork.
The Endeavour Botanical Illustrations relate to the following countries - the links provide a list of illustrations and/or associated images
  • Australia
  • Brazil
  • Java
  • Madeira
  • New Zealand
  • Society Islands
  • Tierra Del Fuego

Parkinson created nearly a thousand drawings and painted studies while working in difficult conditions.

At the beginning of the voyage he was able to keep pace with the discoveries being made.  However as the voyage progressed, the number of new specimens being found overwhelmed him

Parkinson had to adapt the way he worked in order to keep pace!  
  • he completed sketches of specimens and then and coloured part of these to indicate the colours he saw
  • In this way, despite the fact that the herbarium specimens on their return to the UK would have lost most, if not all, their colour due to drying out. the colour sketches would help make sense of them
  • they would also assist with developing proper and complete paintings in the UK.

However, Parkinson 
died before he could complete his work.
Below are a couple of watercolour-on-paper drawings attributed to other artists and based on Parkinson's work.  
  • The original study would have been drawn and at least partly coloured by Sydney Parkinson who, for example,  was present when Banksia ericfolia was first collected at Botany Bay, Australia.
  • Other artists were the engaged to complete Parkinson's original studies or create new watercolours based on Parkinson's sketches.

The latter exercise was undertaken as part of the process of creating the work for the Banks's Florilegium - which is the next part of the story.....
Picture
Pōhutukawa, (Metrosideros excelsa), collected at Tolaga Bay, New Zealand, during Sir James Cook's first Pacific voyage on the Endeavour, 1768-1771. Coloured engraving, ink and watercolours on Paper.
Picture
Banksia ericifolia watercolour from Bank's Florilegium
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM REFERENCES

The Natural History Museum has developed various web pages to explain how they came about.The following links to further information are all from the Natural History Museum website
  • Introduction & The Voyage - The Botany Library at the Natural History Museum holds all of the surviving botanical artwork from Captain James Cook's first Pacific voyage on the Endeavour. Represented are works of the artists Sydney Parkinson (1745-1771), John Frederick Miller an
  • The Collections - Parkinson's sketches finally made up 21 large bound volumes.Description of the scale and the enormity of the task facing Sydney Parkinson
  • People - Short bios of Cook Banks Solander and Parkinson
  • Illustrations Pictures from Cook's first voyage - 43 illustrations from the Natural History Museum Picture Library
BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY SYDNEY PARKINSON
  • Sydney Parkinson - Wikimedia Commons
  • File:Banksia serrata watercolour from Bank's Florilegium.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
  • File:Banksia integrifolia watercolour from Banks' Florilegium.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
  • Bridgeman - art history and cultural images - Sydney Parkinson - 9 images for artist:sydney parkinson
OTHER REFERENCES
  • Sydney Parkinson and the Endeavour botanical illustrations | Making A Mark - my first effort at an account of Parkinson and the drawings produced on board the Endeavour
  • ​Sydney Parkinson, artist of Cook's Endeavour voyage / D.J. Carr, editor | National Library of Austra - Available in the National Library of Australia collection. Format: Book; xv, 300 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 25 x 25 cm.
  • Sydney Parkinson - Botanical drawings - Sydney Parkinson - Botanical drawings
  • Botanical prints from Captain Cook's first journey to Australia on display in Kyneton | ABC News Victoria - about an exhibition at the Works of Art Gallery in Kyneton
  • Joseph Banks: botanical work on Cook's voyage finally makes it to print | The Guardian - Life-size prints of hundreds of plant specimens collected by the British naturalist come together in Florilegium

​Banks' Florilegium - with drawings and paintings by Sydney Parkinson
​

Banks' Florilegium takes its name from Joseph Banks.

It comprises 743 botanical line engravings, which were created based on the expedition drawings and watercolour paintings that 
Sydney Parkinson from nature of the plants collected on his journey with Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain James Cook’s first voyage round the world, 1768-1771.

Plants were collected by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Daniel Carl Solander in Madeira, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, the Society Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Java.

Sydney Parkinson had been employed by Banks to travel with him on the voyage and make drawings of the plants and animals collected by Banks and on the voyage.

After Parkinson died, Banks had a dispute with Parkinson's brother Stanfield Parkinson. Banks argued that the drawings and sketches were not part of Parkinson's estate as he had employed Parkinson to produce the illustrations - and therefore they belonged to him.

Banks then employed five artists between 1772 and 1778 to complete Parkinson's sketches. The artists were:
  • Thomas Burgis,
  • John Cleveley - who specialised in ships and marine painting
  • John Frederick Miller,
  • James Miller and
  • Frederick Polydore Nodder - he was responsible for converting most of Sydney Parkinson's Australian plant drawings into paintings. He was also one of the many engravers for the Parkinson works.
The artists worked in his library at Banks Home in Soho Square.

The artwork now resides in the Botany Library Collection. 

Between 1771 and 1784 Banks hired 18 engravers to create the copperplate line engravings from the 743 completed watercolors at a considerable cost of 7,000.
They duly produced a total of a total of 743 selected engravings.

​Their names were:
  • Daniel MacKenzie, the principle engraver, produced over 250 engravings. He lived at Joseph Banks' house in Soho Square, London.
  • Gerald Sibelius,
  • Gabriel Smith,
  • Charles White,
  • Robert Blyth,
  • Frederick P Nodder,
  • William Tringham,
  • Jabez Goldar, van Drazowa,
  • Thomas Scratchley,
  • John Lee,
  • Jean-Baptiste Michell,
  • William Smith,
  • Edward Walker,
  • John Roberts,
  • Thomas Morris,
  • Bannerman and
  • Francis Chesham. ​
Picture
This is a watercolour-on-paper drawing of Banksia serrata. The work would have been heavily based on a partially coloured sketch by Sydney Parkinson, Sir Joseph Banks' botanical artist who was present when the species was first collected at Botany Bay, Australia.
It is not known whether the drawing was completed by Parkinson, or whether it was delivered unfinished for completion by one of the London artist employed by Banks for that purpose.  The painting is attributed to John Frederick Miller who was thought to have completed the work that Parkinson started.
The Florilegium was not printed in Banks’ lifetime and he bequeathed the plates to the British Museum.

All but a few of the 743 copperplate engravings have survived to the present day, despite air-raid damage to the British Museum in September 1940.

​Below are links to the images produced for the 1988 Edition - by location:
  • Australia
  • Brazil
  • Java
  • Madeira
  • New Zealand
  • The Society Islands
  • Tierra del Fuego                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
The great Florilegium of his work was finally published in 1988 by Alecto Historical Editions in 35 volumes and 100 editions.

​Alecto Historical Editions used the " la poupe" technique of colour printing from copper plates. This is a
method of intaglio printing in which different colors of ink would be applied to one printing surface
​
The engravings have also been digitized and published online by the Natural History Museum in London.
Below is a Natural History Museum video about printmaker Katrina van Grouw who talks about the work of illustrator Sydney Parkinson and shows how she uses metal-plate engraving to print and reproduce his work.
 REFERENCE​
  • Banks Florilegium - Home Page - Alecto Historical Editions published Banks Florilegium in association with the British Museum (Natural History). This monumental work depicts the plants collected by Banks and Solander on Captain James Cook's first circumnavigation of the world. This is the link to the online display of thumbnail images of the work
  • Botanical art and illustrations from HMS Endeavour | Natural History Museum
  • About the Banks' Florilegium Copperplate Engravings | The Florilegium Gallery
  • Te Papa - Museum of New Zealand | Topic: Banks' Florilegium - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Daniel Solander wrote a manuscript describing all the species collected from New Zealand during the six months the expedition spent here.
  • Banks' Florilegium | NZETC - EARLY NEW ZEALAND BOTANICAL ART - BANKS' FLORILEGIUM. All but a few of the 743 copperplate engravings have survived to the present day, despite air-raid damage to the British Museum in September 1940.
  • Filoli Museum - The Banks' Florilegium - The Filoli Museum has a copy of the Banks Florilegium.
  • Banks Florilegium - auctioned by Sotheby's New York on 14 December 2015 for $20,000 
  • a la poupee printing | 
35 boxes [including Supplement], broadsheet folio (785 x 606 mm). 
743 copper-engraved plates in titled window mounts, color printed "à la poupée" in up to 17 colors with additional watercolor touches from the original eighteenth-century copperplates (18 x 12 in.; 457 x 305 mm), engraved by D. MacKenzie, G. Sibelius, G. Smith and others after T. Burgis, J. Miller, J.F. Miller, F.P. Nodder, S. Parkinson... The supplement engravings being modern replications (the original 5 plates were stolen in 1973). 
Plates mounted in Somerset mould paper mats with letterpress captions and separated by loose tissue guards and housed within linen-backed tan board portfolios. Letterpress broadsides of title-pages, list of engravings, and method of production in each portfolio. Green buckram folding cases, printed paper labels on upper boards and spines.
[Together with:] Catalogue of Banks' Florilegium. London: 1990. Folio (552 x 381 mm). 8 uncolored engraved plates numbered in pencil 21, 121, 221, 321, 421, 521, 621 and 721. Green cloth, morocco spine lettered gilt. 
[With]: Banks' Florilegium's Prospectus, Subscription form and Publishing timetable. ​
Sotheby's catalogue record of the lot offered for sale

Sydney Parkinson's Journal
​

A JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS, IN HIS Majesty's Ship, The ENDEAVOUR.
Faithfully transcribed from the Papers of the late SYDNEY PARKINSON,
Draughtsman to JOSEPH BANKS, Esq. on his late Expedition. with Dr. SOLANDER, round the World.
EMBELLISHED WITH Views and Designs, delineated by the AUTHOR, and engraved by capital Artists.
LONDON:
Printed for STANFIELD PARKINSON, the EDITOR:
And sold by Messrs RICHARDSON and URQUHART, at the ROYAL-EXCHANGE; EVANS, in PATER-NOSTER Row ; HOOPER, on LUDGATE-HILL ; MURRAY, in FLEET-STREET; LEACROFT, at CHARING-CROSS; and RILEY, in CURZON-STREET, MAY-FAIR.
M.DCC.LXXIII.
  • Parkinson's Journal, Title PagePage i - Parkinson's Journal Title Page
  • Parkinson's Journal, About this EditionPage ii - Parkinson's Journal - about this edition
  • Parkinson's Journal, Table of ContentsPage iii Parkinson's Journal Table of Contents
  • Parkinson's Journal, EngravingsPage iv Parkinson's Journal List of Engravings(these relate to drawings of the indigenous people)
  • A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's Ship, the Endeavour/Description of Terra dA Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's Ship, the Endeavour by Sydney ParkinsonFrom Wikisource
Picture
Detail of drawing by ship's artist Sydney Parkinson, made in June 1770, showing James Cook's Endeavour being careened on the beach at the mouth of the Endeavour River in Far North Queensland, Australia, in order to repair damages after having hit the Endeavour Reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef) on 11 June 1770.

Parkinson's other drawings from the Endeavour Voyage

Parkinson's Drawings of New Zealand

Sydney Parkinson produced many drawings of the natives of New Zealand with tattoos. Sydney Parkinson's drawings can now be seen at the British Museum London, England.
  • New Zealand Parliament - A New Zealand Warrior by Sydney Parkinson
    Sydney Parkinson, draughtsman to Sir Joseph Banks, sailed on Cook's first voyage on the Endeavour 1768-71, and completed many hundreds of drawings on the voyage. NZ warrior, Sydney Parkinson, Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas
Picture
"House and Plantation of a Chief of the Island of Otaheite." by Sydney Parkinson (reproduced as an engraving)
Finally - a little more about the role of Sir Joseph Banks as a natural history scientist in relation to the Endeavour and the purpose of its voyage.
Note: All images sourced from Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons
Parkinson's Natural History Drawings

​Natural history drawing was a new discipline at the time of the voyage of the Endeavour. Zoology was very much a new branch of knowledge - as was botany. The emphasis was very much on drawing botanical specimens.
Parkinson was the first European to observe and draw a kangaroo, the Australian landscape and natural history and Australian Aborigines
Natural History Museum
Picture
A kangaroo by Sudney Parkinson (engraved later). This kangaroo was seen at Endeavour River on 23 June 1770.

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