Botanical Art in Victorian Times

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Botanical Art is a popular art form for many people and cultures. If you have flower arrangements made for any occasion you are purchasing Botanical Art. It might look easy, but it is not. People have to go to school to learn various things about many types of flowers. Arranging flowers in a vase at home is easy, Botanical Art is not. In the paragraphs below, we are going to take a look at this fun form of art called botanical art.

In the Victorian ages the British empire had reached a unrivaled place in power. Their territories spread from Scotland to Australia, and into some colonies such as Africa and India. This is why so many different plants were finding their ways into Britain, and many of them ended up in wealthy homes. Many wealthy people in these times collected art in many forms. They also had land that sprawled for many miles, much of which was turned into gardens of some kind. This might be why Botanical Art was such a hobby in the nineteenth century.

Photography was a very new technology for them and many times their cameras were unreliable. Instead, artists would paint or sketch their findings, and even went so far as to study them under microscopes. This was so they could fully understand every part of the plant, and its markings.

Many wealthy and important people supported this art form. Prince Albert gave patronage to a society that played a big role in the study of Botanical Art. This was a time of exploration, when many things were unknown. Plants and Flowers were a great way to make new discoveries since there were so many undiscovered species.

Many people went in search of new and exciting discoveries armed with nothing but a pencil, microscope and sketchpad. Sometimes they had field guides with them to refer to, this was possibly so that they would be able to classify weather the plant had been discovered. The number of botanical specimens that they found and sketched or painted was in the thousands. These can now be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

There were many who ventured out into the wilderness to capture these pictures for themselves. However, there are only a few who are now famous for it. Some of the better-known armature botanists were Beatrix Potter who you might know for her collection of books and movies, and Marianne North.

Beatrix Potter focused mainly on insects, animals and fungi of Britain. She then illustrated her own children books as well as movies. Marianne North left Britain in search of new discoveries. She painted over 800 pictures depicting her travels

While today Botanical Arts is still a very well practiced form of art, some could argue that it is not as exciting as it once was. It is still very beautiful and takes a very skilled person to paint with that much detail. However, there is not as much excitement surrounding what can be discovered. Today, there are not as many botanical specimens that are not classified.