A Clearing in the Forest of Tji Boddas, Java, with Bank of Tree Ferns. Marianne North (1830-1890). c. 1876. Oil on board. H 35.4 x W 45.5 cm. Marianne North Gallery, Kew. Accession no. MN644, given by the artist, 1882. Photo credit: The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Ferns were extremely popular throughout the Victorian period: the director of Kew Gardens since 1841, and North's good friend, Sir Joseph Hooker, was the son of a palm and fern enthusiast, and his own work on these species helped to further the interest in them. North certainly seems to have enjoyed painting the various species that she encountered, with a particular eye, as usual, to showing them in their natural context. While this differentiates her work from that of most other botanical illustrators, it aligns her more closely with topographers or landscapists.
Image download, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licence (CC BY-NC). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
The Gallery of Marianne North's Paintings of Plants and Their Homes, Royal Gardens. Kew. Descriptive Catalogue Designed by W. Botting Helmsley, ALS. London: 1882. v-vi. Google Books. Free to read.
A Clearing in the Forest of Tji Boddas, Java, with Bank of Tree Ferns. Art UK. Web. 29 August 2023.
North, Marianne. Recollections of a Happy Life: being the autobiography of Marianne North. Vol. II. London and New York, Macmillan, 1893. Internet Archive, from a copy of a book in the Wellcome Library. Web. 29 August 2023.
Created 29 August 2023