[Watercolors of flowers and butterflies]

Title Variants

Alternative: Watercolors of flowers, some with butterfly and moths

Related Titles

Series: Dumbarton Oaks Digitization Project, Garden and Landscape Studies

By

R. B. F., , artist

Type

Book

Material

Archival material

Publication info

[S.l.], [s.n.], 1789

Notes

Title from typed/penciled title on acid-free strips.

"The paintings show flowers, some native to England but many from South Africa and the Americas. Three of the fourteen flowers are accompanied by insects: a bee moth, a cream-spot tiger moth, and a red admiral butterfly. But they were not all drawn from nature. In fact, several images in the book seem to derive from plants included in the first volumes of William Curtis's Botanical Magazine, or, Flower-garden Displayed, the first volume of which appeared in 1787.... Curtis's magazine which, after several title changes, is still published today, made botany and botanical art available to a wider audience than had previously had access to such work. This manuscript is a fascinating example of the presence of such knowledge in domestic contexts, the re-use of published images, and of the interest in botanical illustration among non-specialist audiences at the end of the eighteenth century. It vibrates with life: brightly-colored flowers accompanied by winged insects, images copied carefully as a gesture of affection."--DO/Conversations, Sarah Burke Cahalan (Dumbarton Oaks Conversations), March 25, 2014 (viewed September 28, 2015 https://doconversations.wordpress.com/tag/william-curtis/ ).

On recto of front flyleaf: "To - Mrs. Whyte - These sketches from the fairest objects of a science, she so much approves - are, with gratitude & sincere affection, - dedicated & presented by her obliged relation R.B.F."

Some leaves have numbering in ink on verso, upper left corner; numbered 1-14.

Date from inscription on recto of front flyleaf: Edgefield parsonage, July 1st, 1789.

Index of flowers in manuscript at end (leaf [30]); all by unknown hand, probably that of R.B.F.

Contents: 1. Bee moth &c : Gum asters, or Rock-rose : native of Spain &c. -- 2. Clematis - Virgin's bower : Germany -- 3. Geranium phaeum, & Iccia : England & Africa? -- 4. Colchicum - autumnal crocus : England -- 5. Cream-spot tyger moth, & Vinca major - Periwinkle : England -- 6. Cypripedium - Ladies-slipper : England -- 7. Hypericum Ascyron - Park leaves : vicinity of Constantinople -- 8. Tradescantia - Virginian spiderwort -- 9. Monsonia : Cape of Good Hope -- 10. Trillium : South Carolina -- 11. Amaryllis vittata - Belladonna? : Cape? -- 12. Admiral butterfly, & aster - or michs. [michaelmas] daisy -- 13. Rosa Eglanteria - yellow sweet-briar -- 14. Passiflora alata - winged passion flower : West India -- Index.

Subjects

18th century , Botanical illustration , Botanical illustrations , Early works to 1800 , Flowers in art , Pictorial works , Watercolor painting , Watercolors

Language

English

Identifiers

OCLC: 437426190