Botanical illustration is the accurate pictorial depiction of plants and plant traits for a scientific purpose (Rix 2012), as opposed to flower painting, which has no further purpose than to be admired.
The emphasis of botanical illustration is on science rather than visual art.
Botanical illustration is always a true and lifelike representation of a plant. It should highlight a plant's particular distinguishing features which enable botanists to tell one plant from another |
See also Scientific Botanical Illustration
in the Botany Section of this site for practical tips for how to draw plants accurately. |
The fundamental factor in scientific quality of a botanical illustration is not the medium the artist chooses to use or the technology used for its representation, but the artist's understanding of plant morphology
Stephen A Harris | The Scientific Context of Botanical Illustration in 'A New Flowering'
REFERENCE: Botanical Illustrators working with Botanic Gardens around the world
PLUS The modern botanical illustration collection at the Natural History Museum |
"Contemporary botanical artists share a concern for the environment, particularly in light of climate change, as well as for drawing attention to plants. Before photography was invented, botanical illustrations were essential to understanding plants. But today, too, drawings can illuminate aspects of plants in a way photos cannot. An illustration can show various parts of a plant at the same time, something a photo really can't. It can show extra details of the fruit, for example, and what it looks like bisected."
Robin Jess | Botanical illustration: Putting a timely focus on nature | ABC News
REFERENCE: Articles about careers in botanical Illustration
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Why fewer botanical illustrators are employed today compared to the past
Floras are not commissioned as they once were; they are laborious and expensive undertakings, botanists retire and are not replaced, and much of plant taxonomy has shifted to the molecular level. |
The development of illustrations of plants was slow and lagged behind illustrations relating to people and animals.
Illustration is associated with the discovery of the importance of plants for medicinal purposes. People draw what's important. EGYPT - Thebes 1,500 years BC There's some limited evidence of the illustration of plants in Egypt - in terms of stone reliefs at on the walls of the room next to the Festival Hall of Thutmose III, in the Precinct of Amun-Re, Karnak. The Botanical garden of Thutmose III represents the fauna and especially flora of the Egyptian empire at its peak. A stone relief contains realistic descriptions of some 275 species. |
Botany is an ancient science. Botanical illustrations - drawings that make science visual – have a history thousands of years old. |
This page is a work in progress.
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Find out more about the history of botanical illustration in
The Best Books about Botanical Art History, Artists & Illustrators |
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