Augusta Innes Withers Grapes Still Life

An original early 19th-century watercolour painting, Augusta Innes Withers, Grapes Still Life.

An exquisitely hand-painted study of exceptional quality by English natural history illustrator Augusta Innes Withers (1792–1877). Withers was active as a painter from before 1827 to 1865, exhibiting from 1829 to 1846 at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists and the New Watercolour Society. Daughter of a chaplain to the Prince Regent, she was appointed 'Flower Painter in Ordinary' to Queen Adelaide in 1830 and later to Queen Victoria.

In 1815 the English botanist and illustrator William Jackson Hooker initiated a project of fruit drawings in watercolour stretching over ten volumes, but after suffering a stroke in 1820, Hooker was unable to finish the work. Four other artists, including Augusta Innes Withers, were commissioned to complete the work.

Withers is also known for her illustrations in John Lindley's Pomological Magazine, 'Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala' by James Bateman, Benjamin Maund's 'Botanist', the 'Illustrated Bouquet' and Curtis's Botanical Magazine. John Claudius Loudon commented in the 1831 'Gardener's Magazine' that her talents were of the highest order.

With gum arabic to intensify the colour. On thin card.