Botanical illustrator
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A botanical illustrator is a person who paints, sketches or otherwise illustrates botanical subjects. Typical illustrations are in watercolour, but may also be in oils, ink or pencil, or a combination of these. The image may be life size or not, the scale is often shown, and may show the habit and habitat of the plant, the upper and reverse sides of leaves, and details of flowers, bud, seed and root system.
Botanical illustration is sometimes used as a type for attribution of a botanical name to a taxon. The inability of botanists to conserve certain dried specimens, or restrictions on safe transport, have meant illustrations have been nominated as the type for some names. Many minute plants, which may only be viewed under a microscope, are often identified by an illustration to overcome the difficulties in using slide mounted specimens. The standards for this are by international agreement (Art 37.5 of the Vienna Code, 2006)...
History
The use of illustrations was frequently seen in the herbals, seed catalogues and popular works of natural history. The illustrations produced during the eighteenth and nineteenth century are regarded as both appealing and scientifically valid. The finer detail of the printing processes, greatly improving at this time, allowed artists such as Franz and Ferdinand Bauer to depict the minute aspects of the subject. The use of exploded details would further illustrate the description given in the accompanying text. These details allowed a non scientific audience to go some way in identifying the species, the widening interest in natural history and horticulture was an inducement to the production of many Floras and regular publications.
Many books and publication continued to use the illustrators, even after printed matter began to incorporate photography. It would be many years before the colour printing would equal the illustrators plates. The accuracy and craft of the illustrators had developed in tandem with the botanists concerned, the work came to be accepted as important to the botanists and their institutions. The illustrated publication, Curtis's Botanical Magazine (1787), was to eventually appoint an official artist. The 230-year-old magazine, long associated with the Linnaean Society and Kew Gardens, is now primarily one of finer botanical illustration. A stream of the finest illustrators to appear in print have been featured in the magazine.
The contribution of botanical illustrators continues to be praised and sought and very fine examples continue to be produced. In the 1980s, Celia Rosser undertook to illustrate every Banksia species for the masterwork, The Banksias. When another species was described after its publication, Banksia rosserae, it was named to honour her mammoth accomplishment. Other illustrators, such as the profuse illustrator Matilda Smith, have been specifically honoured for this work. In 1972 the Smithsonian Institution hired its first botanical illustrator, Alice Tangerini.[1]
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Notable botanical illustrators
Notable botanical illustrators include:
- James Andrews
- George French Angas
- Claude Aubriet
- Alois Auer
- Françoise Basseporte
- Ferdinand Bauer
- Franz Bauer
- Elizabeth Blackwell
- Harry Bolus
- Priscilla Susan Bury
- Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano
- Mark Catesby
- Gillian Condy
- Léon Camille Marius Croizat
- Dioscorides
- Atanasio Echeverria y Godoy
- Sydenham Edwards
- Georg Dionysius Ehret
- James Henry Emerton
- Barbara Everard
- Walter Hood Fitch
- Barbara Jeppe
- Martha King
- Jacques le Moyne
- Cythna Letty
- Carl Axel Magnus Lindman
- Margaret Mee
- Maria Sibylla Merian
- Philippa Nikulinsky
- Marianne North
- Pierre-Joseph Redouté
- Sarah Rhodes
- Lewis Roberts
- Celia Rosser
- Ellis Rowan
- Vera Scarth-Johnson
- Dorothea Eliza Smith
- Matilda Smith
- Lilian Snelling
- Gerard van Spaendonck
- James Sowerby
- Sydney Parkinson
- Alice Tangerini
- Elizabeth Twining
- Pierre Jean François Turpin
- Ellaphie Ward-Hilhorst
The Linnaean Society of London awards the Jill Smythies Award for botanical illustration.
See also
- List of florilegia and botanical codices
- List of American botanical illustrators
- List of Australian botanical illustrators
- List of Irish botanical illustrators
- Stuttgart Database of Scientific Illustrators
References
- ^ Corson, Cheryl (March 9, 2017). "Botanical Illustrator Alice Tangerini". Hill Rag. Capital Community News Inc. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
Further reading
- de Bray, Lys (2001). The Art of Botanical Illustration: A history of classic illustrators and their achievements. Quantum Publishing Ltd., London. ISBN 1-86160-425-4.
- "Women Illustrators". The Art of Botanical Illustration. University of Delaware Library. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- "Home page". Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. Carnegie Mellon University. Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
External links
Media related to Botanical illustrators at Wikimedia Commons