A FINE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR BOTANICAL DRAWINGS de TWINING, Elizabeth (1805-1889)

1831-1858. 223 fine original watercolour botanical drawings (11 5/8 x 9 inches), each inscribed by the artist with their Latin name, common name, and where and when the specimen was collected. Preserved in 5 modern vinyl folders with pockets. Provenance: with correspondence to and from the Misses A. and F. Wilkinson and the British Museum (Natural History), Department of Botany, dated 1962; with correspondence to and from Mrs D.M.P. Phillips and the Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries regarding an exhibition of the watercolours in 1974. An exceptionally fine and comprehensive collection of original watercolour drawings of British flowers by Elizabeth Twining, the second of nine children of Richard Twining (1772-1857) the celebrated tea-merchant and banker. A carte de visite signed by Twining and dated 1886 is enclosed, as is a complete index, hand and type-written. "She was a talented portraitist of plants and flowers as well as being a competent botanist. The two-volume folio edition of her 'Illustrations of the Natural Orders of Plants' (2 vols., 1849) is considered to have a place among the finest lithographic flower books of the mid-nineteenth century. The 'natural order' is that of Alphonse de Candolle, who rejected the Linnaean or 'artificial' classification. The emphasis on the appearance of mature plants and their habitat rather than their physiology is echoed not only in her art but also in her lectures on plants, which as well as having a strong geographical theme also discussed how plants were used, particularly by women. She believed botany had a place in the education of women of all social classes and her approach was that of 'mother educator', whether she was encouraging the poor to grow plants for flower shows or promoting the cultivation of window boxes in institutions such as workhouse wards, where the glory of plants could be shared by sick inmates and staff alike" (Theresa Deane for DNB). Twining's original watercolours for the "Natural Orders of Plants" are held in the extensive collection of botanical art at the Natural History Museum in London. They were gifted to the Museum in 1962 by the Misses A. and F. Wilkinson. For more information about this watercolour, please contact Lori Cohen at Arader Galleries.