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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botanical illustration | 10/11 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanical_illustration | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:43:35.237685+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== 20th and 21st centuries === As the 19th century ended and photography gained popularity, Photoengraving, which used halftone technology instead of traditional illustration, became the primary aesthetic of the era. The first offset press was introduced in 1907, revolutionizing image reproduction. New botanical specialties emerged and developed: Lichenology (pioneered by Erik Acharius), Phycology (William Henry Harvey), Palaeobotany (Kaspar Maria von Sternberg), and Ecology (Eugenius Warming), along with new fields like Cytogenetics. Botanical illustrators are still actively working today. Deborah Lambkin, the official illustrator of new orchids described by the RHS since 2005, was awarded the Margaret Flockton Award in 2020. American botanists Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose, with illustrator Mary Emily Eaton, published The Cactaceae (1919–1923). The prolific Matilda Smith was active until the early 1920s. Batty Langley, Pomona, or The Fruit-garden illustrated (London, 1928). Nellie Roberts was the first and longest serving Royal Horticultural Society orchid artist, from 1897 until 1953. In 1972, the Smithsonian Institution hired its first botanical illustrator, Alice Tangerini. In the 1980s, Celia Rosser undertook to illustrate every Banksia species for the masterwork, The Banksias. When another species was described after its publication, Banksia rosserae, it was named to honour her mammoth accomplishment. New developments include American hospital radiologist Dr. Dain L. Tasker (1872–1964) making X-ray pictures of flowers in the 1930s. The electron microscope (second half of the 20th century) made it possible to classify life into five or six kingdoms, three of which relate to botany (fungi, plants, chromista). Adolf Engler's plant classification system outlined in Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien (1892) was later modified by the Cronquist system (1968). Today, illustrations reveal plant structures at microscopic and molecular levels. Field guides, floras, catalogues and magazines produced since the introduction of photography to print material have continued to include illustrations. A compromise of accuracy and idealized images from several specimens can be easily (re)produced by skilled artists. Illustrations are also at times just preferred for some print/digital audiences or text formats. Organizations devoted to furthering botanical art are found in the US (American Society of Botanical Artists), UK (Society of Botanical Artists), Australia (Botanical Art Society of Australia), the Netherlands (Dutch Society for Botanical Artists) and South Africa (Botanical Artists Association of South Africa), among others. There is an increasing interest in the changes occurring in the natural world and in the central role plants play in maintaining healthy ecosystems. A sense of urgency has developed in documenting today's plant life for future generations. Original botanical illustrations rendered in traditional media (with which art conservators are more familiar) can and might serve as reference research materials for endangered species and climate change.
== Chinese illustrators == The Shennong Bencaojing, written between the first and second centuries AD, considered as the oldest book on Chinese herbal medicine, does not seem to have been illustrated originally. It was revised by Tao Hongjing's Bencao jing jizhu c.500, which was itself revised by a team of officials and physicians headed by Su Jing (599-674), also known as Su Gong (Xinxiu bencao or Tang Ben Cao or The Tang Classic of Materia Medica), a Chinese pharmacopoeia. Yaoxing lun, literally Treatise on the Nature of Medicinal Herbs, is a 7th-century treatise on herbal medicine. André-Georges Haudricourt and Georges Métailié mention Song Boren, a poet and painter who is best known for Meihua Xishen Pu (Guide to Representing a Plum Blossom), published in 1238. This manual pairs poems with illustrations of plum blossoms at various stages, from buds to full bloom. His approach is purely artistic. On the contrary, Shen Kuo's Bencao is a book on Traditional Chinese medicine (1249). On the other hand, the prince and botanist Zhu Su, acted to promote the welfare of his contemporaries in times of famine when he composed his Jiuhuang bencao or Famine Relief Herbal (1406). This text lists 414 edible wild plants, each with an illustration and a brief description of its appearance, pharmacological properties, and culinary uses. Li Shizhen(1518–1593) is regarded as a leading scientific figure in China. For Haudricourt and Métailié, his Bencao Gangmu (1596) can be compared to similar European Renaissance works. The illustrations are not always true to life. Bencao yuanshi (Origins of Materia Medica), by Li Zhongli, first published in 1612, focuses on plants with medicinal properties. The plants or useful parts of plants are illustrated. Cheng Yaotian (1736-1796) observed plants in nature and cultivated them. The drawings accompanying his text resemble herbarium specimens, emphasizing flower and fruit details. Wu Qijun (1789-1847)'s Illustrated Catalogues of Plants (1848) also relied on direct observation of plants in nature. The authors conclude that despite working in rich plant environments, scholar-officials' inventories rarely exceeded 2000 plants, much less than some European floras did in the 16th century.
== Other types of floral representations ==
=== Two-dimensional representations === An exhibition at the Grand Palais in 2017 displayed other types of botanical illustrations: