{"title":"Orchid Portraits: J.L. Macfarlane \u0026 Nellie Roberts","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis vibrant collection of orchid portraits date from the late 19th and early 20th century. The paintings are a record of a golden age of horticulture—a time when nurserymen were household names and glasshouses could exceed twenty acres. The rise of a new middle class in the late 19th century and an explosion in house building created a hungry market for the nursery industry, which grew rapidly to meet the demand for ornamental plants. The era's botanical illustrations survive as evidence of the endeavour to navigate and record this developing science.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur collection includes paintings by two of the most esteemed orchid painters of the time, Nellie Roberts (1872–1959) and James Laird Macfarlane (1836–c.1913). They were amongst the first artists to define the standard style in which the flower is portrayed: being a frontal view of the flower at natural size, sometimes with a tinted background for emphasis, strikingly capturing the flower's delicate petal structure and symmetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJames Laird Macfarlane (1836–c.1913) was a Scottish born artist who trained at Paisley Art School before making his career in London. He produced illustrations for publications such as The Florist and Pomologist, before finding employment with Sir Trevor Lawrence, the Royal Horticultural Society's President and first Chairman of the Orchid Committee. Macfarlane standardised the model for orchid illustration of John Nugent Fitch (1840–1927), who also worked for Sir Trevor Lawrence.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNellie Roberts (1872–1959) was the first and longest serving Royal Horticultural Society orchid artist, producing orchid paintings for the RHS for fifty-six years, starting aged just twenty-four. She operated from 72 Loughborough Road in Brixton, where her father ran a watch, clock and repair shop. By displaying her orchid paintings in her father's shop window, the young artist came to the attention of the Measures brothers, Richard and Robert, who were leading orchid growers and fellows of the RHS. With the increasing popularity of orchid growing at this time and the number of hybrids rising rapidly, the RHS Orchid Committee realised the necessity of recording the flowers to which it awarded prizes each year. Nellie was hired as the RHS's first orchid artist, initially temporarily, and what followed was a long and successful career, with Nellie awarded the RHS Gold Medal for the botanical accuracy and excellence of her paintings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs well as being Orchid Artist to the RHS (her 4,500 prize-winning orchid portraits are in the RHS archive), Nellie Roberts completed commissions for some of the most prominent orchid growers in England, to document their own cultivations and registered species.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0930\/4306\/5161\/collections\/TC206-KB-364.jpg?v=1742298731","url":"https:\/\/somersetandwood.com\/fr\/collections\/orchid-portraits-j-l-macfarlane-nellie-roberts.oembed","provider":"Somerset \u0026 Wood Fine Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}