The mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century was a time of illustrious
achievements in the world of botanical art. Artists who once sought to
please the whims of wealthy patrons were turning to scientists for
inspiration, and they now had access to countless new botanical
specimens thanks to prolific explorers and plant hunters. One of the
best botanical artists and most knowledgeable natural historians of this
era was James Sowerby (1757-1822). Talented and prolific, his crowning
achievement was Sowerby's Botany, a thirty-six volume work on the
botany of England that contained 2,592 hand-colored botanical
engravings. Despite Sowerby's place in the pantheon of botanical
artists, no full biography of the artist exists. Paul Henderson remedies
this with a thoroughly researched and wholly fascinating look at
Sowerby's life and legacy.
Henderson explores Sowerby's artistic achievements as well as his place
at the center of a thriving network of artists and scientists. Sowerby
worked closely with key botanists of the time, influencing the likes of
Sir Joseph Banks and James Smith, as well as Dawson Turner, James
Dickson, Aylmer Lambert, and William Woodville. He also contributed
illustrations to the earliest volumes of The Botanical Magazine (later
known as Curtis's Botanical Magazine). Specimens from his collection
round out the holdings of museums around the world, and he has become
the paterfamilias of a talented line of botanical and natural science
illustrators.
Henderson's Sowerby's Botany is beautifully illustrated with Sowerby's
artwork and includes extracts from letters, manuscripts, and natural
history publications. It is a fascinating story of an influential artist
working at the intersections of art and nature at a time of
unprecedented scientific enlightenment.
