The Golden Age of Botanical Art

Truly global in its scope, this beautifully illustrated book moves across centuries and continents to explore the evolution and diversity of botanical art.

Images produced in the study of plants have always held a fascination for all those who love nature. The Golden Age of Botanical Art brings together the stories of the intrepid explorers and the professional artists who recorded for posterity the flora that they encountered on their expeditions. It delves into the sketchbooks of explorers in the Himalayas and follows the voyages of those who found new worlds and species as far apart as Russia and South America. Special features cover key figures in the botanical art world including such great names as Ehret and Bauer, as well as distinguished collections, such as that of Mutis at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Madrid. Rarely, or previously unpublished, images from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and other archives from around the world, reveal how these illustrations made a significant contribution to our understanding of the world and the glories of nature.

Martyn Rix is a botanist and the Editor of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, and as such has an unrivalled knowledge of botanical art. With a PhD in Botany from the University of Cambridge, he has worked at the University Botanic Garden in Zurich and at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden, Wisley, in the UK, and has made many expeditions to different parts of the world to collect new plants for gardens. He is the author or co-author of a number of books, including the highly acclaimed The Botanical Garden (Macmillan).