Explanations of why botany is so important to botanical artists and illustrators past and present.
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Botanical illustration started life as a means of creating a record for doctors ​so that they could identify the features of which could be used in medicine. 
(see Herbals and Florilegia). 

​In doing so they needed to draw plants so they could be clearly recognised - and they needed to highlight the parts which mattered for the medicine.

During the Age of Discovery, when botanical illustrators accompanied explorers and plant hunters, botanical illustration became a way of making a record of what a plant looked like. This then enabled the scientists in botanical gardens to make sense of the dried specimens of plants being brought back from overseas expeditions - which were often in a press and brown and flat.

Often any dissections were undertaken on board ship and watercolour studies of the plants were painted to indicate colour and morphology.
Cydonia oblonga (Quince) By Franz Eugen Khler, Khler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
Source: via Wikimedia Commons
Study nature diligently, be guided by nature.... for truly art is hidden in nature and he who can draw it possesses it
Albrecht Dürer
TODAY, if you want to succeed as a botanical artist 
​you need to:
  • understand what differentiates a plant from others that are similar - and therefore needs to be highlighted
  • get to know a plant properly - ideally making studies over its complete life cycle before starting to develop a proper drawing or painting
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Many professional botanical artists develop their artwork by working through themes - creating collections of paintings of varieties of a species. 
TODAY, to become a professional botanical illustrator 
you need to
  • have frequent discussions with botanists regarding dried specimens from the herbarium.
  • must understand what a botanist is saying about what makes a plant special and needs to be highlighted in an illustration (see Scientific botanical illustration).

I've met a number of the younger professional botanical illustrators working today in Botanic Gardens across the world at the RHS and major exhibitions. Several of them have developed their knowledge of botany via undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Botany.

​It's not unusual these days to find myself talking to a professional botanical illustrator with a PhD in Botany!
If you want to win a gold medal for your art from the Royal Horticultural Society then you very definitely need to get your head around the botany aspects of botanical art. 

You can read more about the importance of botany to RHS Gold Medal Winners in my blog posts:
Banner Image: Pinkneya Pubens by P.J Redoute - from Flora boreali-americana
NEXT:  Botany Books for Artists
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