Botanical Art From The Golden Age Of Scientific Discovery

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, wall charts were a familiar classroom component, displaying scientific images at a large scale, in full color. But it's only now that they've been superseded as a teaching tool that we have begun to realize something their ubiquity hid: they are stunning examples of botanical art at its finest. This beautifully illustrated oversized book gives the humble wall chart its due, reproducing more than two hundred of them in dazzling full color. Each wall chart is accompanied by captions that offer accessible information about the species featured, the scientists and botanical illustrators who created it, and any particularly interesting or innovative features the chart displays. And gardeners will be pleased to discover useful information about plant anatomy and morphology and species differences. We see lilies and tulips, gourds, aquatic plants, legumes, poisonous plants, and carnivorous plants, all presented in exquisite, larger-than-life detail. A unique fusion of art, science, and education, the wall charts gathered here offer a glimpse into a wonderful scientific heritage and are sure to thrill naturalists, gardeners, and artists alike.

Botanical charts are experiencing a resurgence in interest, both as pieces of art and as objects of scientific and historical significance, and Wall Flower documents this extraordinary convergence of disciplines that flourished in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Europe was enjoying a golden age of botanical illustration, naturalists were exploring the globe, and there was a calamour for knowledge of the natural world. Intellectual curiosity was no longer limited to the few; education was now considered a right afforded to all, in classrooms across the continent. And thus the botanical wall chart was born, a synthesis of art, science and education. This collection of wall charts from all over the globe, each accompanied by text explaining its historical and botanical contexts, has been put together by botanist Anna Laurent, and will delight anyone with an interest in the natural world.

The seventeenth century heralded a golden age of exploration, as intrepid travelers sailed around the world to gain firsthand knowledge of previously unknown continents. These explorers also collected the world’s most beautiful flora, and often their findings were recorded for posterity by talented professional artists. The Golden Age of Botanical Art tells the story of these exciting plant-hunting journeys and marries it with full-color reproductions of the stunning artwork they produced. Covering work through the nineteenth century, this lavishly illustrated book offers readers a look at 250 rare or unpublished images by some of the world’s most important botanical artists. Truly global in its scope, The Golden Age of Botanical Art features work by artists from Europe, China, and India, recording plants from places as disparate as Africa and South America. Martyn Rix has compiled the stories and art not only of well-known figures—such as Leonardo da Vinci and the artists of Empress Josephine Bonaparte—but also of those adventurous botanists and painters whose names and work have been forgotten. A celebration of both extraordinarily beautiful plant life and the globe-trotting men and women who found and recorded it, The Golden Age of Botanical Art will enchant gardeners and art lovers alike.

Plants and flowers have always captured man's imagination, with their delicate harmonies and the perfection of their symmetrical forms. Over the centuries, the world of plants has stirred the aesthetic sense of many artists, who have approached the representation of the natural world with creative spirit. Art merged with science when man began to investigate Nature and her secrets with a critical spirit; botany and art then blended in a union that resulted in any number of splendid masterpieces. Guided by the accuracy of their observation, but also by a sense of wonder at the beauty of these botanical specimens, some of the greatest illustrators of the past have left us marvellous coloured images that portray the amazing wealth of the world's flora, from the most common species to the rarest varieties scattered in remote corners of the planet. This splendidly illustrated volume will guide the reader in discovering the golden era of botanical art. It is a journey through the centuries that illuminates the evolution of the techniques and the styles, and it offers a panorama of the most important artists who have captured the pure essence of the plant world, conveying its beauty to paper. Ranging from the first herbals dating from the Middle Ages to the florilegia that illustrate the species associated with specific regions or habitats, or from the artists who accompanied the great expeditions to every corner of the world. AUTHOR: Anna Laurent is an award-winning flora-focused author & artist. Her first book, Botanical Art from the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery, published by University of Chicago Press in 2016, explores 19th century educational classroom boards with research conducted in Prague, Berlin, London, Cambridge, and elsewhere. Organized by plant family, the book emulates a Victorian classroom while providing biographies of renowned illustrators and scientists. Previously, she was a contributing editor at Garden Design, where she wrote about the history of botanic illustration. Her forthcoming work will be featured in a new exhibition at Royal Botanic Garden Kew, London, and her award-winning 'Dispersal' photography series has exhibited across the United States.

Offers a unique combination of informative text, magnificent illustrations and stylish design Examines the 100 most important discoveries since the invention of the telescope Features spectacular photographs, taken with the largest telescopes on Earth and in space, that portray distant corners of the universe Author Govert Schilling is a renowned astronomy journalist and science communicator In his Atlas of Astronomical Discoveries, astronomy journalist Govert Schilling tells the story of 400 years of telescopic astronomy. He looks at the 100 most important discoveries since the invention of the telescope. Doing what Schilling does best, he takes the reader on an adventure through both space and time. Photographs and amazing pictures line the pages of this book, offering the reader an escape from this world and an invitation to a world far beyond what the unaided human eye can detect.

Filmmaker Attenborough provides an introductory survey of the artistic representation of plants and animals through human history, beginning with Leonardo da Vinci's drawings and continuing on through the mid-1700s.

Presents evidence that Dutch commerce, not religion, inspired the rise of science in the 16th and 17th centuries. Scrutinises many historical documents relating to the study of medicine and natural history during this era, showing direct links between commerce and trade, and the flourishing of scientific investigation.

RHS Staff Pick of the Year 2021 Spectator Gardening Book of the year 2021 'A refreshingly insightful history of plant introductions.' - Roy Lancaster Travel the world with extraordinary tales of the botanical discoveries that have shaped empires, built (and destroyed) economies, revolutionised medicine and advanced our understanding of science. Circling the globe from Australia's Botany Bay to the Tibetan plateau, from the deserts of Southern Africa to the jungles of Brazil, this book presents an incredible cast of characters - dedicated researchers and reckless adventurers, physicians, lovers and thieves. Meet dauntless Scots explorer David Douglas and visionary Prussian thinker Alexander von Humboldt, the 'Green Samurai' Mikinori Ogisu and the intrepid 17th century entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian - the first woman known to have made a living from science. Beautifully illustrated with over 100 botanical artworks from the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, this absorbing book tells the stories of how plants have travelled across the world - from the missions of the Pharaohs right up to 21st century seed-banks and the many new and endangered species being named every year. *** THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW is a world-famous research organisation and a major international visitor attraction. It harnesses the power of its science, the rich diversity of its gardens and collections to unearth why plants and fungi matter to everyone. Its aspiration is to end the extinction crisis and help create a world where nature and biodiversity are protected, valued and managed sustainably.