Botanical Art

Botanical Art From the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery

Anna Laurent

You only have to leaf through this book to be reminded of the incredible intricacy of plant life. That's the reason I picked it up from a display shelf at the library and checked it out in February. I returned it just as the pandemic was becoming a threat.

Fritillaria imperialis (Crown Imperial Lilly) by Alexander Marshal (c.1620-1682)

There has always been a long history of botanical art - specimens collected and art students using them in learn-to-draw efforts, professional artists selling their works for display upon estate walls and with the Age of Scientific Discovery, botanical dissections grew even more common, with young botanists documenting their finds artistically. Even amateurs got into the act, usually men and women of high station who could afford a hobby.

       

A number of years ago I brought home The Paper Garden by Molly Peacock, sadly, no longer available at the library. It was fascinating to read how Mary Delany (1700-1788) as a widow at age 72, probably finally having a bit of spare time, expanded her interest in botany by starting to use a form of paper collage to document plants of various kinds, cutting precise pieces of paper and fitting them together onto a background with such accuracy it's hard to tell they're not painted.

  

    

                                    Mary Delany                                                 Mary Delany

Mary Delany's achievements came during a time in history when announcements of the occurrence of scientific discoveries were accelerating, generating great excitement among educated people. Amateur fossil hunters and botanists and other folks who loved being outdoors, began to take great interest in the marvels to be found just by looking. This is when wonderful large instructional charts, with exquisite drawings of flora and fauna and anatomical details, plant, animal and human, began to appear in drawing rooms and classrooms.

It turns out that thanks to our modern age, with iPads and cellphones and other electronic devices, we no longer have a need for giant wall charts in classrooms, those wall charts so common as teaching aids in the early part of the 20th century. 

Our loss!

Botanical Art From the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery is a wonderful collection of over 200 botanic art wall charts from the 19th and 20th centuries from around the world: France, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Switzerland, USA, Britain, Japan etc. The works, all in large colour format, are organized taxonomically. Details are observable and botanists will be able to read the labels for themselves.

Well, I confess to not reading the entire book but admit to dipping into it often during the 3 weeks that I had it at home. What a joy!

Note: None of the photos in this blog post came from Botanical Art From the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery, which should give you a hint that there's tons of botanical art to be found if you only look! I don't think botanical art has ever really gone out of style.