John Lindley was “a professor of botany at the University College in London and for many years the moving spirit of the Royal Horticultural Society, one of the institutions most active in promoting the acclimatization and cultivation of these plants” (Tomasi).\u00a0 He learned to draw and lithograph his own work, and illustrated some of his own monographs as well as books by others. Sarah Ann Drake, who signed her work “Miss Drake,” was a prolific British botanical illustrator.\u00a0 As a young woman she studied in Paris.\u00a0 Drake was a close friend of Anne Lindley, wife of John Lindley, and came to reside in their home, probably at first as a governess.\u00a0 Lindley trained her to create drawings from living plants and sketches that had been sent to him from around the world.\u00a0 When Lindley found that his other responsibilities consumed his time, he turned to Drake as a replacement illustrator for his publications. As his illustrator, she drew from living plants and sketches that had been sent to Lindley from such places as Brazil, British Guinea, Australia and China.<\/p>\n
Drake\u2019s first illustrations appeared in Nathaniel Wallich\u2019s Plantae Asiaticae Rariores<\/strong>, published in 1830. She was also a frequent contributor to the Transactions of the Horticultural Society<\/strong> in the first half of the 19th century.\u00a0 Her work for Lindley is included in the publications Edward\u2019s Botanical Register <\/strong>and Ladies\u2019 Botany.\u00a0 <\/strong>Along with Augusta Innes Baker Withers, she illustrated “what is probably the finest, and certainly the largest, botanical book ever produced with lithographic plates, James Bateman’s Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala<\/strong> (1837-43)” (Blunt).\u00a0 The exceptional quality of her work gave her wide recognition. Plates signed \u201cDrawn from Nature and on Stone by Miss Drake\u201d or \u201cMiss Drake del.\u201d are found in Lindley’s Sertum Orchidaceum: A Wreath of the Most Beautiful Orchidaceous Flowers <\/strong>and The Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Sulphur<\/strong> by George Bentham. In acknowledgement of her contribution to his work, Lindley named the genus Drakea for her, which today contains three species \u2013 D. elastica, D. glyptodon, and D. jeanensis. Today, some of her botanical watercolors are in the collection of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.<\/p>\n Maxim Gauci, a British lithographer born in Malta, was one of the early practitioners of lithography in Britain, and worked on portrait lithographs as well as some important British botanical books produced in the first half of the 19th century.\u00a0 These include Nathaniel Wallich’s Plantae Asiaticae Rariores<\/strong> (1830-32), John Lindley’s Sertum Orchidaceum <\/strong>(1837-41) and James Bateman’s Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala<\/strong> (1837-43).\u00a0 Botanical art historian Wilfrid Blunt called the latter “probably the finest, and certainly the largest, botanical book every produced with lithographic plates,” and deemed Gauci “a master of the process” for his tonal control and his “knack of achieving precision without losing sensitivity of outline.”\u00a0 Several dozen portrait lithographs after Gauci are in the collection of Britain’s National Portrait Gallery.<\/p>\n Condition: Generally very good, recently professionally cleaned and deacidified, with some light remaining toning, light mottling to paper, wear, soft creases. Few short marginal tears and chips professionally restored.<\/p>\n References:<\/p>\n Blunt, Wilfred, rev. by Stearn, William T.\u00a0 The Art of Botanical Illustration.<\/em>\u00a0 Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors Club, 1994.\u00a0 pp. 233, 249, 252, 261, 264-265 and 329.\u00a0 Plates 90-93.<\/p>\n Lindley, John.\u00a0 Sertum Orchidaceum: a Wreath of the Most Beautiful Orchidaceous Flowers.<\/em>\u00a0 London: James Ridgway and Sons, 1838. Online at Missouri Botanical Garden Library:<\/em> http:\/\/www.illustratedgarden.org\/mobot\/rarebooks\/library.asp?relation=QK495F50L5561838 (2 November 2011).<\/p>\n Nissen, Claus. Die Botanische Buchillustration: ihre Geschichte und Bibliographie.<\/em> Stuttgart:1951-66.\u00a0 BBI 1250.<\/p>\n Pfahl, Jay, et al.\u00a0 Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia.<\/em>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.orchidspecies.com\/ (3 November 2011).<\/p>\n Sitwell, Sacheverell. Great Flower Books, 1700-1900.<\/em> New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990.\u00a0 65.<\/p>\n Stafleu, Frans A. and Richard S. Cowan. Taxonomic Literature.<\/em> Utrecht: 1967. 2nd ed., Utrecht: 1976-1988.\u00a0 4651.<\/p>\n Tomasi, Lucia Tongiorgi and Rachel Lambert Mellon.\u00a0 An Oak Spring Flora: Flower Illustration from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Time.<\/em> New Haven: Yale University, 1997.\u00a0 p. 272-4.<\/p>\n “Women’s Work: Sarah Drake 1803-1857.”\u00a0 Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology.<\/em>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.lindahall.org\/events_exhib\/exhibit\/exhibits\/womenswork\/drake1.shtml (2 November 2011).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Lindley (1799-1865) (editor) Large Victorian orchid prints by the distinguished British botanist John Lindley, among the foremost orchidologists of his era.\u00a0 Sertum Orchidaceum<\/strong>, one of his major works, was issued in ten parts between 1837 and 1841 (the publication date on the title page is given as 1838), just as orchid cultivation was becoming fashionable among the aristocracy leading to what has been called \u201corchidomania.\u201d \u00a0Illustrated books on orchids remained very popular through the second half of the 19th century and in some cases provide the only record today of extinct species.\u00a0 The artist Sarah Ann Drake — “Miss Drake” as she was known — and Maxim Gauci, who translated her drawings into lithographs, are still highly regarded for their botanical illustrations, especially of orchids.<\/p>\n Product Description Continues Below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14257,"template":"","meta":{"wds_primary_product_brand":0,"wds_primary_product_cat":0,"footnotes":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[983,6783],"product_tag":[1619,3346,900,124,3341,475,2383,3343,1185,3339,867,459,3342,2969,3347,3344,3340,2955,3345],"class_list":{"0":"post-14255","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-natural-history-art","7":"product_cat-tropical-decor","8":"product_tag-ann","9":"product_tag-beautiful","10":"product_tag-botanical","11":"product_tag-british","12":"product_tag-drake","13":"product_tag-english","14":"product_tag-flowers","15":"product_tag-gauci","16":"product_tag-john","17":"product_tag-lindley","18":"product_tag-lithograph","19":"product_tag-london","20":"product_tag-maxim","21":"product_tag-orchid","22":"product_tag-orchidaceous","23":"product_tag-orchidaceum","24":"product_tag-sarah","25":"product_tag-sertum","26":"product_tag-wreath","27":"post","28":"post-with-thumbnail","29":"post-with-thumbnail-large","31":"first","32":"instock","33":"purchasable","34":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/14255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/14255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33465,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/14255\/revisions\/33465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=14255"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=14255"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=14255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSarah Ann Drake (1803-1857) (after)
\nMaxim Gauci (1776-1854) (lithographer)
\nOrchids<\/strong>
\nfrom Sertum Orchidaceum: a Wreath of the Most Beautiful Orchidaceous Flowers<\/strong><\/em>
\nJames Ridgway and Sons, London: 1837-41
\nHand-colored lithographs
\n21 x 14 inches, average approximate
\n$475 each<\/p>\n