E.B.R. White & Purple Bellflowers (Campanula)

Botanical Watercolours: E.B.R. 1830–1842

This watercolour forms part of a beautiful collection of botanical paintings by an early 19th-century artist with the initials E.B.R. The identity of the artist is unknown, but the style of the works—impressive, exacting flower portraits inscribed with their Latin name—suggests that they were possibly painted for reproduction as botanical plates. The paintings in the collection span a period of twelve years, 1830 to 1842, so this was someone with an enduring interest and commitment to their art.

The artist is quite likely female; the work resembles that of Eliza Eve Gleadall (1806–1887) for example, who researched, illustrated and published her own botanical catalogue, The Beauties of Flora, 1834–6. Other similar works of botanical illustration by women include Studies of Flowers from Nature (1818–20) by ‘Miss Smith', Margaret Lace Roscoe’s Floral Illustrations of the Seasons (1831), Anne Everard’s Flowers from Nature … with Instructions for Copying (1835), and Jane Webb Loudon's The Ladies Flower Garden of Ornamental Perennials (1846). There were many more female illustrators whose works were published anonymously, unsung yet with extraordinary painterly skills, quietly advancing a wider knowledge of botany and greater understanding of nature, amongst growers, collectors and the wider reading public.