Images of Botany: Celebrating the Contribution of Women to the History of Botanical Illustration

Abstract

The superb botanical illustration collection of Amgueddfa Cymru– National Museum Wales in Cardiff, Wales, has developed through bequests, donations, and selective purchases. Numbering more than 7,000 works, 15% of these are by women, including the work of well-known Victorian artists and leading contemporary artists such as Gillian Griffiths, Pauline Dean, and Dale Evans. In particular, the Cymmrodorion Collection is the most prestigious collection, containing illustrations dating from the 18th century and featuring works by Elizabeth Blackwell, Jane Loudon, and Sarah Drake. Using this and other collections from the museum, this article examines the contribution that women artists have made to the field of botanical illustration by referring to the lives of these women and considering their motives, whether they pursued botanical illustration out of financial necessity, out of scientific curiosity, or to allay boredom. The article further examines the social restrictions and prejudice that many of these women had to overcome.

The Legacy of Welsh Botanist Jessie Gwendoline O’Callaghan (née Insole; 1882–1932)

“…Nevertheless, the voices of married ladies such as Jessie O'Callaghan continued to have little influence in scientific groups where men dominated. Occasionally, indomitable women such as Eleanor Vachell, Anna Maria Hussey (Pardoe and Lazarus 2018), Marie Stopes (Fraser and Cleal 2007;Shteir 1996), and Ethel Miles Thomas (Cleal et al 2022) gained influence through family or personal connections or associations with scientific institutions such as Amgueddfa Cymru-Museum Wales. However, apart from Eleanor, Jessie had no connections of this kind, and details of her work have remained largely unknown.…”

“…Jessie O’Callaghan was well known in botanical circles, and typical of many women of her generation, she was a keen botanist and an accomplished botanical artist. Several of her contemporaries have left similar delightful sets of plant portraits including Holden (1977), Gwendolen Crowley, Margaret Towers, and the Frampton family (Lazarus and Pardoe 2003; Pardoe and Lazarus 2018). Examination of the lists of her botanical illustrations and herbarium specimens suggests that Jessie mainly painted and collected close to her home or when she was on holiday.…”

“…Indeed, Jessie's mother herself became a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in 1909. A talent for plant portraits was considered a useful accomplishment for young ladies being groomed for marriage (Pardoe and Lazarus 2018).…”