Art of Botanical Illustration

This study is the first to successfully address the identification of the botanical components of a garden in the palatial courtyard of Herod’s the Great Promontory Palace in Caesarea Maritima. Based on the extraction and identification of fossil pollen grains, we were able to reconstruct at least part of the garden's flora, which we argue, could only have grown within the architecturally-protected confines of a garden of this splendid seaside palace. The palynological spectrum included, among other taxa, high percentages of Cupressaceae pollen as well as pollen of the non-local tree Corylus sp. (hazelnut), which was most probably imported from the northeast Mediterranean or Italy. These trees appear to have been accompanied by other ornamental plants (e.g., Salvia and various Rosaceae plants). The choice of flora to be planted in the garden is consistent with our knowledge of Roman gardens dated to Herod’s time. This exceptional and magnificent palace, with its luxurious architectural features and its impressive, well-maintained garden, symbolized the power and the abilities of Herod, the greatest builder in ancient Jewish history.

"We review the representation of Ginkgo biloba L., a quintessentially
Chinese plant, in the art of those Western botanists who first encountered it in China and Japan. We also show how several later representations of Ginkgo, in both the West and the East, were inspired and made possible by specimens of Ginkgo in cultivation."

This study examines eighteenth-century botanical illustrations of endemic Chilean flora within the colonial context of the imperial networks that transferred American plants and their images to Europe. To this end, we focus on early illustrations of three Chilean botanical species: the copihue, the puya and the quillay. We consider the botanical images of these species produced under the expeditions of Louis Feuillée (1707-1711) and Hipólito Ruiz y José Pavón (1777-1788) as efficient substitutes for the plants they represent. We find that these illustrations fulfilled the doubled necessities of eighteenthcentury Imperialism, that is, to identify useful new plants and to integrate them within a universal system of botany. We conclude that these considerations were given uneven weight, as artistic conventions for the botanical illustrations under study privileged scientific aspects over more lucrative endeavors.

В статье впервые дается общий обзор ботанической иллюстрации в русских рукописях XVI–XVIII вв.
Это, с одной стороны, переводы европейских энциклопедических естественнонаучных сочинений —
Gaerde der Suntheit Иоганна фон Кубе и Liber de arte distillandi Иеронима Бруншвига, и с другой
стороны — “народные” травники XVIII в., в которых представлен “наивный” вариант ботанической
иллюстрации.
This article provides the first general overview of the botanical illustrations in Russian manuscripts between the
sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. On the one hand, these are the translations of the European encyclopaedical
works in natural sciences, such as Johann von Cube’s Gaerde der Suntheit and Hieronymus Brunschwig's Liber
de arte distillandi. On the other hand, there are “folk” herbals of the eighteenth century that represent a “naive”
version of botanical illustrations.

Th is paper is devoted to some points of interaction between the scientific
illustrations and
easel paintings. Plotless still life genre refl ects a special mode of thinking which is characteristic for the
people of a certain epoch. In the 17th century’s flower still lifes Western European artists followed the intellectual
impetus of their time, showing interest in the structure of nature and embodying their observations
in new pictorial forms. The changes in science methodology of that time found their reflection in aesthetic
images. In the scientific inquiry at the turn of the 16th–17th cc. we can notice a parallel to the re-thinking of
the inherited spiritual background which in religious and social spheres of life gave impulse to the Reformation.
The reformation in the scientific methods ended in differentiation between the
science and the art and
in the formation of a well-defined structure of disciplines where the nature was allowed to stay objectively
natural while painting could progress in perception of the harmony of its own features and limits.

В статье рассматриваются некоторые особенности взаимовлияния научных иллюстраций и станковых картин. Жанр натюрморта, оставаясь бессюжетным, улавливает и озвучивает
особенности мышления людей определенной эпохи. В цветочных натюрмортах XVII в. западноевропейский художник помимо прочего следует за интеллектуальным импульсом своего времени,
демонстрируя интерес к устройству природы и воплощая полученные наблюдения в новых изобразительных формах. Изменения, произошедшие в методах естественнонаучных дисциплин того вре-
мени, отразились и в эстетических образах. В научных поисках рубежа XVI–XVII вв. можно видеть
аналогию тому переосмыслению накопленного опыта, которое в религиозной и социальной сферах
жизни дало импульс Реформации. Дело «реформации» научного метода было завершено разделением науки и искусства и формированием четкой структуры дисциплин, когда естественной природе позволили быть беспристрастно естественной, а живописи — развиваться в сторону познания
гармонии ее собственных качеств и границ.

Im Mittelpunkt des Beitrags im Sammelband „Biographien des Buches“ steht ein Exemplar des "Herbarius latinus", ein pharmakologisches Handbuch, gedruckt und verlegt bei Peter Schöffer in Mainz 1484, das sich heute im Bestand der Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen befindet. Über sechs Stationen wird die Exemplargeschichte des Buchs entfaltet: von der Mainzer Offizin zum Pariser Verleger Henri II Etienne und als Geschenk Henris zum ungarischen Humanisten Johannes Sambucus, weiter nach Nürnberg in eine unbekannte Privatbibliothek und wenig später in die bedeutende Bibliothek in die Nürnberger Bibliothek des Arztes und Naturforschers Christoph Jacob Trew. Die Trew-Sammlungen gelangten  nach seinem Tod als Schenkung in die Universität Altdorf und und nach der Auflösung der Universität an ihren heutigen Aufbewahrungsort, die UB Erlangen. Diese letzte Station wurde kurzfristig  unterbrochen durch einen Ausflug des Exemplars, das von dem drogensüchtigen Erlanger Bibliothekar Mehringer gestohlen wurde, in den Münchner Antiquariatsbuchhandel die Bibliothek des Bibliophilen Otto Schäfer in Schweinfurt.

In der Raumsoziologie entstehen Kommunikationsräume auf der Grundlage der Wahrnehmung sozialer Güter von handelnden Akteuren in räumlichen Anordnungen. Damit ist der Rahmen für mögliche Strategien benannt, denen der Herbarius und sein kommunikatives Angebot zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten und an wechselnden Orten ausgesetzt ist. Das Schriftmedium ‚Buch‘ wird als Artefakt und Gegenstand symbolisch-kommunikativer Handlungen, von Praktiken und Bedeutungs-zuschreibungen, in den Blick genommen. Der Beitrag hat zwei Ziele: erstens zu zeigen, wie Methoden der historischen Buchforschung zur Rekonstruktion der Bewegungen eines Buchexemplars in Raum und Zeit genutzt werden können, und zweitens, das Medium Buch in den Kontext neuerer Diskussionen um das Konzept der Objektbiographie und der Materiellen Kultur zu stellen.

In this study, basic techniques which are used in botanical illustration are examined. Undoubtedly the most basic and accessible technique for the illustration artists is pencil and ink. Artists who have been drawing for years have used this technique with the decorations on the books and although technological developments present us unlimited opportunities today, basic illustration techniques; pencil, ink and watercolour technique has kept its place. It is necessary for this basic illustration technique to contain main features such as line, tone, colour, texture, shape, size. Just as all the artists who are dealing with illustration, artists-scientists who are dealing with botanic have also benefited from these techniques. as a result, no matter if it serves for art or for science, these techniques have always had an important place in creation of visual data for the development of humanity.

Jeremias Falck (c. 1605/09–1677) is considered to be the greatest engraver of early modern times working in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Graphical representa- tions of  ower forms constitute a signi cant part of his oeuvre. So far they have not been of special interest to researchers, therefore it is worth giving them more attention now. It seems necessary to look at the existing attributions to estimate the real number of Falck’s works on this subject, and to formally analyse various prints. It is also necessary to critically approach the questions of the original prints, later editions, and copies.
Up to date researchers have recorded selected  ower representations, without referring to the information in the only catalogue raisonné of Falck’s works by Block, who attributed to him up to 98 compositions on the subject. Only by compar- ing prints from the Polish museums with various collections abroad the answer to the question how many  ower arrangements were actually created by Jeremias Falck can be provided.
Falck’s authorship of the series Novae et exquisitae FLORUM ICONES has been con rmed. It is also highly likely that he elaborated most of the plates of the series Verscheyde Nieuwe TULPEN.
From the frontispiece of the series Novae et exquisitae FLORUM ICONES we can
conclude that Falck was not only the engraver, but also the author of the composition (inventor). Flowers in his works do not map a particular set of a botanical collection, but are a recommendation for an artistic representation of the plant.  ey could have been a kind of a template for painters, and at the same time objects d’art for collectors.  anks to their artistic qualities, perfect workmanship, and attention to the highest editorial standards, Falck’s  ower engravings became desirable works in the art mar- ket, copied by other designers and reprinted by other publishers.
e analysis of the preserved prints linked to Falck can also lead to a number of general conclusions on the functioning of the market for graphic art in the 17th cen- tury. Florilegia were usually formed in series containing a few to a dozen composi- tions. Herbaria’s cards could circulate in the form of a compact collection of a few series together, but also in smaller folders or even as loose cards.  e study shows that they were particularly popular in 17th-century France and the Netherlands.  e increase in production, mainly of the copies of previous cycles, occurred in the 1670s and lasted until the early 18th century. Falck and Vauquer were copied by Gerard Valck, Nicolaes Visscher and many others.

La imagen de la botánica americana fue transmitida a la Península Ibérica a través de multitud de acuarelas y dibujos generados por expedicionarios europeos y científicos americanos. Sin embargo, la relación que de esta llegó a España a través del óleo, fue mucho menor. La comparación entre estos óleos y el reflejo pictórico de algunos especímenes españoles, realizados con una intención científica y no simplemente decorativa, demuestra tanto cuáles fueron los diferentes objetivos buscados, así como la manera de reflejarlos. Para ello, se realiza un estudio comparativo de los diferentes especímenes.

En el presente artículo se presenta un análisis del uso del dibujo en la Expedición Botánica del Nuevo Reino de Granada. Con este propósito se revisa el concepto de representación vinculado con las ideas sobre ilustración botánica imperantes en el siglo XVIII. Se trata en especial la relación del director de la Expedición, José Celestino Mutis, con el botánico Sueco Carl von Linneo, para establecer la importancia adjudicada al uso de la imagen por Mutis, a diferencia de la prelación adjudicada a la descripción escrita por Linneo.

Eight species of simple-leaved Sorbus L. (Maloideae, Rosaceae) have been attributed to the flora of Hubei Province, China. In proposing a new species, Spongberg takes great pleasure naming it in honor of Professor Te-tsun Yu, former director of the Beijing Botanical Garden and Vice Director of the Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, foremost student of Asiatic Sorbus and primary advocate of renewed and continued cooperation between Chinese and American botanists.

The connection between art and science in observation drawing has mostly been referenced concerning scientific illustration. The botanical drawings of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868- 1928) and Margaret Macdonald (1864-1933) have also been referenced as examples linking art and science. These drawings are catalogued and the majority of the botanical specimens are identified. Previous studies have mainly focused on a more individualized descriptive approach of the drawings themselves or a biographical perspective towards Mackintosh’s interest in botany. Nevertheless, a more profound formal study of these drawings as a whole, has not yet been done as to clearly identify their artistic and their scientific features and assess their potential contributions to both art and science. With this in mind, we have analysed 70 botanical drawings owned by the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery and the National Library of Ireland. We compared their features toy botanical illustrations, photographic records from the present time, real live plants and with both artists’ stylized plant forms. This study should contribute to the dialogue between art and science and, ultimately the appreciation of the natural world and biodiversity.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, in Washington, DC, is an institute of Harvard University dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally in Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, and Garden and Landscape Studies through fellowships, meetings, exhibitions, and publications. Located in Georgetown and bequeathed by Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, Dumbarton Oaks welcomes scholars to consult its books, images, and objects, and the public to visit its garden, museum, and historic house for lectures and concerts.