Contemporary Illustrations Collection

Jenny Bache

Jenny is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Claire Banks
Winner of the Jill Smythies Award from the Linnean Society of London in 2015

• a collection of 24 pen and ink drawings of Podocarpus spp. drawn between December 2013 and March 2014

Eve Reid Bennett (1936-2006)

Eve taught botanical illustration for many years at RBGE, and left the Garden many examples of her work, especially of the genera Rhododendron and Tacca (see sample illustration on this page)

• Index to Eve Reid Bennett collection [docx]
• Index to Eve Reid Bennett collection [odt]

Mary Benstead

• see Drawings of plants from the woods and forests of Chile

Sharon Bradley

• Rhododendron kesangiae var. Kesangiae (subsection Grandia), Clark & Sinclair1 662 19902777C, pencil and watercolour, ca. 2008. Original work for the RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration

William Brown (1888-1975)

• A collection of 309 watercolour illustrations of fungi from Edinburgh and Aberdeen, 1914-1918

Stephen Caine

• Collection of 10 carbon pencil drawings of fossil plants inspird by the fossil plant collection at the National Museum of Scotland and the Spitsbergen fossil tertiary flora illustrated by Carl Hedlin (1861-1894) for the Swedish Museum of Natural History

Sansanee Deekrajang

Sansanee is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Drawings of plants from the woods and forests of Chile

• A collection of 81 original works by Mary Benstead, Gülnur Ekşi, Işık Guner and Hülya Korkmaz for the work Plants from the woods and forests of Chile published by the RBGE in 2015 (see sample illustration on this page)

Gülnur Ekşi

Gülnur is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

• see Drawings of plants from the woods and forests of Chile

Toby Gough

• Ulmus glabra, watercolour, 2007

Caroline Greevers

• Spring Flowers (Complex composition for the RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration, 2009)

Işık Guner

• see Drawings of plants from the woods and forests of Chile
• Coelogyne lawrenceana, watercolour, 2016, featuring a specimen collected from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Garden, Yunnan Province as part of the endangered orchids from China project
• Watercolour plant portraits including a sunflower, horse chestnut and thistle, 2010

Sarah Howard

Sarah is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Bessie Darling Inglis (1902-1999)

Inglis illustrated a number of books published by Nelsons and also did work for the National Trust for Scotland

• Original artwork (71 items of 84 done) for a work on ‘Plants of the Bible’ planned by Thomas Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, with text (not found) by Harold R. Fletcher (1907-1978), RBGE Regius Keeper (1956-1970).
• Index to Bessie Darling Inglis 'Plants of the Bible' [docx], created by Regina Davidson
• Index to Bessie Darling Inglis 'Plants of the Bible' [odt], created by Regina Davidson

Geoffrey Kibby

• A collection of 25 watercolour paintings of British fungi, 1969-1973

Hülya Korkmaz

• see Drawings of plants from the woods and forests of Chile

Deborah Lambkin (1970- )

• Rhododendron himantodes, watercolour [1996]; Presented to the RBGE by Glasnevin Botanic Garden in 1997

Nicola Macartney

Nicola is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Prof. David Mann (1953- )

Senior research scientist at RBGE since 1990. In addition to his scientific research David has produced a range of art inspired by his work on algae including the Phycographia series of prints that explore novel imagery based on microscopic material

• 16 mezzotints from the Phycographia series of prints (see sample illustration on this page)

Mike May

Mike is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Jillian McDougall (1940- )

• Knee roots in a tropical rain forest. Watercolour, 805 x 1120mm (framed, on display in the Library)
• Dendrobium aurantiroseum. Print of a watercolour of a New Guinea orchid painted in 1983 at RBGE. The original work is held by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London
• Dendrobium cuthbertsonii. Print of a watercolour of an orchid painted in 1982 at RBGE
• Dendrobium hellwigianum. Print of a watercolour of an orchid painted in 1982 at RBGE
• Dendrobium vexillarius. Print of a watercolour of an orchid painted in 1982 at RBGE

Gillian A. Meadows

Mary Mendum [née Bates] (1945-2004)

A member of the RBGE staff, though not employed as an artist, Mary made many b/w drawings and watercolours to illustrate books and research papers by colleagues, including many rhododendrons and plates for the Flora of Bhutan.

Jan Miller

Jan is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Gloria Newlan

Gloria is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Christina Oliver, Louise Olley, Jacqui Pestell, M.B.E. & Sharon Tingey

• Thangka painting featuring endemic, medicinal, useful and invasive plants from Nepal, 2016. Inspired by the stylised plants portrayed in traditional Tibetan thangka (also known as tangka, thanka and tanka) paintings still made by artisans in Kathmandu during a visit to Nepal in March 2015, Jacqui and Sharon worked with the RBGE Flora of Nepal team to create this work for the Flora of Nepal exhibition that ran in the John Hope Gateway from the 6th August to the 6th November 2016. The work incorporated drawings of individual plants by Claire Banks, Lyn Campbell, Işık Güner and Sarah Roberts as well as those by Nepalese artist Neera Joshi Pradhan (see section of the work illustrated on this page)

Jacqui Pestell, M.B.E.

• Watercolour illustration of Rosa 'Grace'

Rodella Anne Purves (1945-2008)

Although at one time employed in the Garden's Education department, Rodella's career as a major botanical artist largely took place after she left, although the collection also includes several examples of her later work

Wei Qicong (1956 - )

Wei Qicong was born in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China in December, 1956. Having graduated from Yunnan Simao Normal College in 1980, he went on to study at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1990.

• Village stockade, 1987, woodcut, limited edition print (number 14 of 20) (framed)

Janne Richardson

• Helleborus x hybridus, Fritillaria meleagris and Scilla siberica (Complex composition for 1st year RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration)

Pamela Richardson

• Original work for the RBGE Diploma in Botanical Illustration, 2010

Abigail Rorer (1949 - )

• 2 prints of Reginald Farrer based on images in the RBGE Archive. These relief engraved portraits were for two fine press books published by Rorer’s press, The Lone Oak Press, Petersham, Massachusetts, USA.

Stella Ross-Craig (1906-2006)

• 9 illustrations (8 watercolour, 1 pen and ink) of Prunus serrula, Vanilla moonii, Buddleja tibetica, Buddleja farreri and Bromus hordaceus

Lizzie Sanders

Lizzie is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Sarah Sherlock see Sarah Howard

Rosemary Margaret Smith (1933-2004)

For her entire career Rosemary was a member of the RBGE staff and worked primarily on the family Zingiberaceae.

• Collections of drawings published in the Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Journal of Botany
• Illustrations for a ‘Plant of the Week’ column published in the Scotsman newspaper between 1963 and 1979 with text by Alf Evans
• Index to Scotsman, 'Plant of the Week' drawings [docx], created by Regina Davidson
• Index to Scotsman 'Plant of the Week' drawings [odt], created by Regina Davidson

Rupert Smith (1857-1942)

• A large collection of watercolour illustrations of British fungi, early 20th century

Lilian Snelling (1879-1972)

Perhaps the RBGE’s most important collection of botanical drawings, of primulas and rhododendrons, made in the Garden, commissioned between 1916 and 1921 by Isaac Bayley Balfour (see sample illustration on this page)

• Index to the Lilian Snelling collection (pdf)

E. Margaret Stones (1920 - 2018)

• collection of watercolours with a particular focus on Himalayan plants painted between 1952 and 1970 at Ascreavie, the Angus house and garden of George and Betty Sherriff. The collection was bequeathed to the RBGE by Betty Sherriff.
  • Index to the Margaret Stones collection [docx] (created by Regina Davidson)
  • Index to the Margaret Stones collection [odt] (created by Regina Davidson)

Susanna Stuart-Smith

• Black and white drawings for the Orchids of Bhutan several original watercolours for the Plants of Dhofar.

Narongsak Sukkaewmanee

Narongsak is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Leigh Tindale

Leigh is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Sharon Tingey

Sharon is one of the artists in the RBGE Florilegium

Jenny Usher see Jenny Bache

Maureen Chisam Warwick
a former member of RBGE staff who made numerous b/w drawings for colleagues

• Illustrations for the Trees of Central Kalimantan

Jane [Jean Troup] Wisely (1905-1999)

A member of the Botanical Society of Scotland, Jane was born Jeannie Troup Wisely in Aberdeen on the 18th April 1905. Having graduated M.A. with honours from the University of Aberdeen in 1927, she went on to further study with the University of Oxford, where she graduated B.A. in 1930. A career in teaching and teacher training followed.

• a collection of watercolour paintings donated to the Library by the Botanical Society of Scotland in 1994 (see sample illustration on this page)
  • Index to the Jane Wisely collection [docx] (created by Regina Davidson)
  • Index to the Jane Wisely collection [odt] (created by Regina Davidson)