Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium is published

This week the first volume of the Highgrove Florilegium was published by Addison Publications. In this post I'm looking at

• the definition of a Florilegium,
• the publication of the first volume of the Highgrove Florilegium
• Historical Florilegia
• Contemporary Florilegia in the making

The Highgrove Florilegium (Volume 1)

published by Addison Publications

What is a Florilegium?

What's a 'florilegium' you may well ask? I'll try and explain. In essence, it's a formal botanical illustration record of a collection of flowers.

Florilegium (plural Florilegia) is a Latin word for a collection of 'flowers' (excellent excerpts), from the corpus of a considerably larger oeuvre. It was adapted from the Greek anthologia or anthology, with the same etymological meaning.
Wikipedia - Florilegium

and a slightly different perspective as to its etymology from World Wide Words

A collection of writings; a portfolio of flower pictures.

This Latin word is from flor–, a flower, and legere, to gather or collect. In that language it didn’t refer literally to flowers, but to little flowers of composition, choice poems or epigrams by various authors (it’s the exact Latin equivalent of the Greek anthology, which derives from anthos, a flower, and –logia, a collection). However, florilegium first appeared in the English language in 1711 in a sense nearer the literal one: describing a collection of flower illustrations.
World Wide Words - Florilegium

According to Christopher Mills, the Librarian at Kew Gardens, the term florilegium is now generally accepted to have been first employed by Adriaen Collaert (1560-1618) in his work simply entitled ‘Florilegium’ published in 1590.

I'd make the additional observation that the meaning of the word in terms of both historical and contemporary florilegia seems to suggest that another aspect of the use of the word relates to it meaning a record of plants associated with a particular place (see both historical and contemporary examples below) whether that be static or visited on a journey.

What is the Highgrove Florilegium?

Painting and horticulture are two major interests of the Prince of Wales which are combined in The Highgrove Florilegium. This started as a project in 2000 to mark the Prince's achievements in his garden and to provide a historical record of the plants. The first volume was published this week after six years work - in his 60th birthday year.

The Highgrove Florilegium will comprise two volumes of 120 watercolours which record the plants in the gardens at Highgrove, which is the family home near Tetbury in Gloucestershire of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

The garden at Highgrove is entirely organic and represents a physical embodiment of the Prince's environmental philosophy that it is better to work with nature than against it. (Note: You can apply to tour the garden at Highgrove in parties of 25 people but there is currently a two year waiting list)
The watercolour paintings of plants in the garden have been produced by some of the best contemporary botanical artists including Fay Ballard (see my posts here and here) Gillian Foster Katherine Manisco, Kate Nessler and Jenny Phillips. Anne Marie Evans, MA FLS, the artist who developed the diploma course in Botanical Painting at the Chelsea Physic Garden leads the selection panel who ensure that the paintings meet the highest standards. I've got access to the complete list if anybody is interested in who else is participating in this project.

You can see slideshows of the works included in the Highgrove Florilegium if you click here and /or here.

There will be a limited edition set of a facsimile of the Highgrove Florilegium in two volumes in a leather half-binding available on subscription at a price of (take a deep breath) £10,950. You may wonder about the price. Well, the production process is very interesting - with an emphasis on quality in terms of both archival quality standards, craftsmanship and hand finishing. Each set will also be signed by the Prince of Wales and it's expected that the second volume will be published next year. All royalties from the publication will be donated to the Prince’s Charities Foundation to support its activities

The images will be printed in England on especially-made archival paper by the stochastic lithographic process, the most up to date and appropriate technique for reproducing the delicacy and detail of watercolour paintings. The text will be printed using Somerset paper, again, in a special making for this publication. Richard Shirley Smith’s drawings of features from the Highgrove garden have been incorporated into endpapers for the book and vignettes for the text. The pages will be collated and sewn by hand in the Yorkshire bindery of Stephen Conway, who runs one of the few craft binderies in England. Victoria Hall in Norwich is marbling the sheets of paper for the sides of the book by hand. The spine and foredge are covered in red chieftain goat skin and especially cut tools have been made for James Brockman, the eminent designer book binder who will hand finish the books in gold leaf
Addison Publications - The Highgrove Florilegium.

The Daily Telegraph has provided a very informative article about the development of the Highgrove Florilegium - Highgrove: the Florilegium returns. The New York Sun also had an article A Modern British Florilegium which related to the recent show of watercolour drawings from the Highgrove collection in New York.

Interestingly, according to the preface written by the Prince of Wales, the Florilegium will be used as archive to help teach botanical art at his School of Traditional Arts in Hoxton - which is in the same building but two floors down from the Princes Drawing School which I go to for my drawing class each week. Maybe I can go there in future to learn more about botanical art?

Florilegium in history

Florilegia had their heyday in the 16th and 17th centuries. Some examples include , and Besler's Hortus Eystettensis, a 17th-century work that contains 367 engraved plates depicting more than 1,000 flowers.

Here are some links to Florilegia in history

• Jardin du Roy by Pierre Vallet (c. 1575-1657), a record of Henri IV's garden
• Besler's Hortus Eystettensis (1613) - a copy of which I saw at Kew last Saturday (Kew opens the world's first dedicated botanical art gallery) - contains 367 engraved plates depicting more than 100 flowers and provided a catalogue of the rare specimens growing in the spectacular gardens created in Bavaria by Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen of Eichstätt
• Banks' Florilegium - this consists of seven hundred and forty three botanical line engravings, after the watercolours which were drawn to record the plants collected by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr Dabiel Solander in Madeira, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, the Society Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Java on Captain James Cook's first voyage round the world, 1768-1771.

Florilegium around the world

A number of places in the UK are currently developing florilegia. For example,

• Hampton Court Palace has The Hampton Court Palace Florilegium Society. The website contains galleries of paintings produced in different years.
• the Chelsea Physic Garden has The Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society

The primary aim remains the portrayal of the Garden's entire collection and, as there are more than 5000 plants listed, current members are still merely laying the foundations of a vast project! From the members' annual submission of paintings and pen and ink drawings, work is selected by an independent panel to maintain highest standards. Over 200 watercolours and 120 drawings have currently been accepted. All plant material is grown in the Garden and Herbarium specimens are also prepared. The Head Gardener and his team continue to instruct and help members, willingly providing both cuttings and advice when requested.
Chelsea Physic Garden

• There is a Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanic Gardens. It's been established to produce an archive of botanical illustrations of the plants of Sheffield Botanical Gardens. The Society currently has about 70 members and the website provides details of how to participate. Valerie Oxley - a member of UKCPS - is currently Chair of the Society.
• Brooklyn Botanical Garden Florilegium Society there are lots of images on this website

In addition, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew employs botanical artists to record plants at Kew. The current Kew Magazine has an interesting article - Making Masterpieces about this which is available in readable pdf format.

So - are you involved with a Florilegium Society or maybe making a formal record of the flowers in your garden? I'd love to hear from people involved in similar projects.

Exhibition Review: The Highgrove Florilegium at the Garden Museum

Last year I wrote about the Highgrove Florilegium in Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium is published.

The Highgrove Florilegium will comprise two volumes of 120 watercolours which record the plants in the gardens at Highgrove, which is the family home near Tetbury in Gloucestershire of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

I recently visited the Garden Museum where there is an exhibition this summer of some of the original botanical art paintings which make up the Highgrove Florilegium. The exhibition continues until 31st August 2009.

Tomorrow I'm visiting the garden at Highgrove. Organisations can apply to visit and I'm going with a party from the Prince's Drawing School.

What is a florilegium?

In essence, a Florilegium is a formal botanical illustration record of a collection of flowers and plants. It's typically been used in relation to the creation of a formal record of plants found in a garden of significance. (For example, see this site about Basilius Besler (1561 - 1629) who is best known for spending sixteeen years compiling the book known as the Hortus Eystettensis which was a florilegium of all the plants grown in the garden of the prince bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria.)

Florilegium (plural Florilegia) is a Latin word for a collection of 'flowers' (excellent excerpts), from the corpus of a considerably larger oeuvre. It was adapted from the Greek anthologia or anthology, with the same etymological meaning.
Wikipedia - Florilegium

The Highgrove Florilegium

The Highgrove Florilegium is particularly special because it's the very first British Royal Florilegium. Which considering we're a nation of gardening fanatics is rather surprising. It was originally commissioned as a way of marking the 60th birthday of the Prince of Wales. You can read more about it in in Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium is published.

The first copies of the second volume of the Highgrove Florilegium were finished in time for the opening of this new exhibition of original paintings created specially for the Highgrove Florilegium at the Garden Museum - next to Lambeth Palace on the south bank of the Thames.

The paintings

Distinguished botanists worked with the Head Gardener at Highgrove, to ensure that this great garden is represented in all its aspects by an appropriate selection of material, including plants that are useful or commonplace, rare and in decline, or just extravagantly beautiful. Work was submitted for selection to a rigorous panel of experts led by Anne-Marie Evans MA FLS, who developed the Diploma Course in Botanical Painting at the Chelsea Physic Garden.
Garden Museum

Artists whose work I particularly admired in the exhibition are as follows:

• Fay Ballard RWS - who is a long time favourite of mine. This is a gallery of her botanical watercolours
• Sally Crosthwaite - who is an RHS Gold Medal Winner and was awarded a Distinction on the Diploma Course of Botanical Illustration at the English Gardening School, London. She is a member of the Society of Botanical Artists and a Founder Member of The Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society
• Lucinda Grant - who is a member of the The Hampton Court Palace Florilegium Society
• Jenny Phillips FLS - a Gold Medallist from The Australian National Print Awards 1998, and The Royal Horticultural Society, London 1993, she has focused her drawing, watercolour skills, and love of gardening on botanical art since 1971. She has lectured on the subject for over 15 years and is a master class instructor. She is also the founder of The Florilegium Society of Australia. You can also see a video of Jenny talking about her botancial art.
• Sheila Siegerman who is Canadian and an International member of the American Society of Botanical Artists
• Jessica Tcherepnine - see also this article in the New York Times

If you like botanical art and have a chance to get to London before the end of August I do recommend a visit to this exhibition. All the works are excellent, displayed well and are well lit so it's very easy to inspect the very high quality of the painting. There's a £6 entrance charge to the Museum.

The production of each volume of the Florilegium
The quality of the Florilegium is not just confined to the paintings. The whole production process has used high quality production processes and crafts people who are highlighted below.
The watercolour paintings on display in the museum have been scanned at actual size for printing the limited edition facsimiles using a process of stochastic lithography. I spent a little time trying to find out what this is - which is not easy! Below is the best and shortest explanation I could find on the Internet.

This process represents a completely new advance in printing technology. Unlike conventional lithographic origination which employs the mechanical cross-line screen and the equal spacing of half-tone dots, computer-controlled stochastic, or frequency modulated screening, delivers a random effect from microdots whose distribution varies according to tonal value.
Alecto

15 colours of ink have been used to produce the colour plates. These have been printed on "American Cotton" paper made in the USA at the Monadnock Paper Mills in Benington New Hampshire. The mills are very much oriented towards sustainability and conservation which must have pleased the Prince! The text was printed on Somerset Bookwove made at St. Cuthberts Mill in Somerset. Both the papers were specially made for the publication.

The decorative end papers contain architectural drawings of features found in the garden. These are also reproduced as vignettes within the text. The drawings are by Richard Shirley Smith of Marlborough.

Victoria Hall hand marbled the sheets of paper for the front and back of each book.

The pages of each volume were collated and swen by hand in the bookbindery of Stephen Conway in Halifax Yorkshire. I gather from the catalogue that he runs one of a very few hand binderies in England. James Brockman and Stuart Brockman handfinished the books in gold leaf.

There is to be a limited edition of 175 numbered sets of a facsimile of the Highgrove Florilegium in two volumes in a leather half-binding available on subscription at a price of (take a deep breath) £10,950. All the royalties from the sale are going to the Prince of Wales's charities supported by the The Prince's Charities Foundation. I know these do a terrific job and are well worth supporting - check the website to see why. (You can now follow the Prince of Wales Charities on Twitter). These are three of them

• The Prince’s Drawing School
• The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts
• The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts

Exhibition catalogue

The exhibition catalogue summarises the processes used for the production of the Florilegium - there's rather more detail on display in the exhibition. It also lists the artists and provides biographical details for each

The catalogue contains reproductions of certain individual paintings in the exhibition.

However what it does not do is provide a catalogue of the work! It calagoues the illustrations - but not the exhibition. Which I found extremely odd. There are no details as to size of the work - although they are produced to an identical size - which is somewhat smaller than some of the very impressive works I see at the Annual Exhibition of the Society of Botanical Artists or at the Shirley Sherwood gallery in Kew. However since the intention is to produce a facsimile reproduction in the florilegium proper it's hardly surprising they are the same size and that this is dictated by the size of the overall volume.

What I would have liked to have seen is:

• an indication of whether or not all artists were working to life size and whether or not they all worked on the same paper.
• a list of all the works included in the Florilegium and which artist produced what. I assume there was a good reason for this omission and that this wasn't an oversight - although I'm perplexed as to what this was. It's not as if the The Florilegium is something which could be easily 'faked' and it would have been interesting to know exactly what grows in the garden.

I wonder if a copy is being donated to the Library at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew?
____________

For more about Florilegiums see Botanical Art - Resources for Artists and A History of Botanical Art - Resources for Botanical Art Lovers

Links:

• Addison Publications - publishers of the Highgrove Florilegium
• Garden Museum - exhibitions - how to find the museum plus opening times
• Prince's Charities Foundation

The Artist formerly known as Prince

There have been a few posts on social media using this quip.

However it's worth remembering that King Charles III is an artist who is a keen painter in watercolours and who exhibits his paintings on a regular basis. 

He is also a Patron of drawing, traditional art and crafts in different locations both in the UK and abroad.

I remember when Prince Philip died I made reference in Prince Philip (1921-2021) - the painter to his interest in painting.  I guess this interest must have influenced his son. I'm hoping it passes on to more of his progeny.

Below you can find out more about his activities - when Prince of Wales in terms of: 

• watercolour painter
• timeline of exhibitions
• patron of art

Watercolour Painter

As a Prince, he painted from childhood. 

However he did not become dedicated to plein air painting of landscapes and nature in watercolour until the mid 1980s. After which he produced paintings of places he visited and generally produced about 30 paintings each year.

He has, up until now, painted under the name A.G Carrick. The A. G. relates to two of his names 'Arthur George' and the Carrick references one of his titles 'Earl of Carrick' - one of the Scottish titles held by the Heir Apparent.  I think I'm correct in saying that he has typically signed his watercolours AG. 

However he's no longer the Earl of Carrick as that title has now passed to his son! 

I wonder if being King might mean we no longer see his watercolours even if he continues to paint them.

Timeline of Exhibitions

RHS Botanical Art Show 2015 - Selected Artists

One of the exhibitions I cover extensively every year is the RHS Botanical Art Show.

• This post lists the botanical artists selected for the 2015 Exhibition 
• Please note the exhibition's dates have changed this year and it's much earlier on 27-28 February 2015 at RHS Lindley Hall in Westminster.

Part of the 2014 RHS Botanical art Exhibition

Selected Artists 2015

These are the artists who have been selected by the RHS to exhibit at this show (which is not the only RHS Show at which botanical art is exhibited - but it is the main one). 

We seem to have more artists overall but fewer artists from the USA, Australia, South Africa and Korea.

Note: Any international artists planning to sell their artwork at the exhibition need to be aware of the new EU rules about VAT which started on 1 January 2015 (of which more anon - but the bottom line is you need to be registered for VAT in the UK)

Australia

• Deirdre Bean GM (2012) - Australia's mangroves: living on the edge The mangroves are the subject of Deirdre's post graduate studies in Natural History Illustration. Deirdre has paintings in public collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, USA, and in the Florilegium collection at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

France

• Vanda Adamson - French hedgerow flowers and fruit

Italy

• Lucilla Carcano GM - Autumn Walks: the patterns of leaf colour during the season Lucilla has been painting botanical art since 1994. In 2006 she won both an RHS Gold Medal and the Best in Show Award at the exhibition in Birmingham.

Japan

Japan has a major contingent of artists exhibiting this year.

• Hideo Horikoshi - Traditional Root and Tuber Crops in Japan
• Yuko Inujima - Flower and fruit
• Mayumi Ishii - Contemporary Roses in Japan
• Kimiyo Maruyama - Trees of Pinaceae in Watercolour. Her Pinus palustris was exhibited at the Botanical Art in the 21st Century exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery in 2014 and was described as follows. My guess is we may well see this in this exhibition too.  Her work was also exhibited at Kew in The art of plant evolution at Kew Gardens' exhibition of botanical paintings

Kimiyo Maruyama’s Pinus palustris is a feat of attention to detail; a painstakingly painted watercolour which leaves you enraptured at her patience and skill.

• Ikuko Matsui - Study of Flower Ikuko is a member of the Japanese Association of Botanical Illustration
• Masako Mori - Persimmon Masako has exhibited at the 14th International Exhibition, The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
• Keiko Sekiya - Pumpkins and Squashes Keiko exhibited at the 13th International Exhibition, The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
• Kumiko Takano - Climbing Plants

Thailand

• Sansanee Deekrajang - Tropical Climate Plants  Sansanee was born in Thailand but now lives in West Lothian. She won a Silver Gilt at BISCOT 2014.  She has also exhibited at the Margaret Flockton Award in Australia in 2013.
• Waree Sawangarom - The Magnificent Garden Tree Waree is from Amphoe Muang Nonthaburi, Thailand. You can also find her work on Etsy.

Turkey

Gulnar Eksi at the RHS Botanical Art Exhibition 2013

• Gulnur Eksi - Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile. This is a project currently being undertaken at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh chileanplants.rbge.org.uk - the book of all the botanical art completed to date goes on sale in 2015. You can read my interview with Gulnar in 2012 in this post - Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medal Winners

UK

• Kate Barling - Six varieties of apples, grown in a Devon garden
• Pearl Bostock - Bedgebury National Pinetum Signatory trees Pearl is the founder member and Chairman of the Florilegium Society at Bedgebury National Pinetum, Goudhurst, Kent which has the most complete collection of temperate conifers. I was wondering when I was going to see some botanical artwork connected to Bedgebury!  She's also a member of the group of botanical artists called Amicus Botanicus who invite me to their exhibitions.
• Jessie Carr - In Depth Seed Studies  According to her Facebook Page, Jessie's exhibit is now titled 'Exposing the Nature of Nurture'. She lives in Cornwall.
• Guy William Eves - The Black and White of Colour. Guy is a fellow of The Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and has had work exhibited at The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh, USA
• Leigh Ann Gale - The Diversity of Clematis Leigh Ann completed her completed her diploma in botanical illustration at the English Gardening School, Chelsea Physic Garden and is a member of the Hampton Court Palace Florilegium Society
• Nicola Macartney - All Glory is Fleeting - Papaver Flowering Nicola is a graduate of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Diploma in Botanical Illustration - a course that has a lot of RHS Gold Medals associated with it. She started her studies in 2008 and completed the Diploma - with Distinction - in 2012.
• Jill Mayhew - Inside the Fruit Cage - a Collection of Soft Fruits Jill is a member of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society and has a painting included in the Highgrove Florilegium.
• Claire McDermott - Michaelmas Claire studied RHS Horticulture - Plant Morphology /microscopic work at Harrow College and then Botanical Illustration at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Francesca Ross - Crab Apple Varieties from RHS Garden Hyde Hall.   Born in Devon and currently lives in Essex - hence the Hyde Hall connection.
• Fran Thomas - Plants of the Coast and Islands of the Firth of Forth - Fran is from Scotland and did her Diploma at RGBG. She won a Silvery Gilt at this show in 2014
• Kathy Pickles GM - Fritillaria and Helleborus. Kathy has exhibited five times and an RHS Gold Medal on each occasion. She won her first Gold Medal in 1991. Her artwork has been acquired by and is in the collections of The Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew and Edinburgh, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation in Pittsburgh and the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
• Peta Stockton GM - Acacia Plants – Bark and Thorns. Peta won her RHS Gold Medal in 2006. Originally from South Africa, Peta now lives in Sevenoaks in Kent.  She has work in the collections of Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society in London, the Hunt Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
• Margaret Walty - Orchid Hybrids Maraget lives in the south of Scotland and is a professional painter
• Jenny Webster - Going to Seed - Jenny was awarded a Diploma with distinction from the Society of Botanical Artists in 2009 and won an RHS Silver Gilt medal in 2012. She's a member of the London Chelsea Physic Garden group of painters. She's a member of the Leicestershire Society of Botanical Illustrators.
• Amanda Willoughby - Heavy metal-tolerant plants of abandoned lead mines in the North Pennines and the Peak District.  Amanda has won two previous RHS Medals for "Rare and Endangered Cornfield Flowers" and "Plants of the Urban Wasteland"

More Exhibits and Demonstrations

In addition the show will include exhibits and demonstrations from the following artists and societies

Artists

• Susan Christopher-Coulson - Susan is the Vice President of the Society of Botanical Artists and has won many awards. She works in coloured pencils and will be demonstrating techniques for drawing suitable objects for botanical art and how to create special effects.
• Hannah McVicar - Hannah is an illustrator and printmaker. She is bringing her Portable Artist Printmaking Studio to the show to demonstrate how she works. 
• Julia Trickey - I normally see Julia at these shows winning Gold Medals for her artwork (see this post and this post). This time she be a range of botanical art techniques in her capacity as a botanical art tutor. Her instructional DVDs and other merchandise will be available to purchase. 

Florilegium Societies

Two of the Florilegium Societies in the South East are exhibiting paintings in their collection together with information and advice from artist members

• Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society - 2015 marks the 20th Anniversary of the Society and their exhibit will include paintings from the Chelsea Physic Garden collection, information about their upcoming book and a chance to purchase prints, cards and post cards of their work.  
• Hampton Court Palace Florilegium Society - The Society’s aim is to record plants grown in the gardens at Hampton Court Palace, with particular emphasis on the Palace’s unique plant collections such as the Queen Mary Exoticks. A selection of original pieces will be shown, plus artists will demonstrate the skills required to paint for the Florilegium. 

Note: If you're not familiar with florilegium you might find this post interesting as it defines what is a florilegium and describes their history - Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium is published

Drawing on art and the Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales is 60 today - the age a lot of men retire in the UK. As a number of papers will doubtless remark today, he's yet to start 'the top job'. However I'd like to mark his birthday by suggesting he's done a great deal more through his charitable work than most Princes of Wales have ever done - not least through his sponsorship and patronage of art education, traditional arts and drawing.

The Prince is a keen watercolorist and through various ventures (including the sale of lithographs of his work) aligned to his charities he has helped to raise millions for their charitable work. This post highlights a few of his activities.

On this website you can view galleries of The Prince's (watercolour) work from Greece, Switzerland, Overseas and Scotland.
The Prince of Wales's interests - painting with watercolours

Art Education

One of the Prince's ambitions is to help young people realise their full potential. Here are some of the organisations he's helped to stimulate and create and/or sponsor as a patron.

The Prince's Drawing School

The Prince has always been a keen artist and an advocate of the importance of drawing skills. Created in 2000, The Prince's Drawing School is his educational charity which is unusually dedicated to the teaching of drawing.

It has a faculty of some 35 practising artists and it works on the premise that drawing is a living, evolving language. The studios are in a converted warehouse in Shoreditch, the heart of London's East End creative community. It runs a range of programmes, including

• Public Programmes,
  
• West London Short Courses,
  
• daytime and evening classes throughout the year (Bookings),
  
• a Postgraduate Programme (a one- or two-year course focusing on drawing),
  
• and a Young Artists’ Programme including Saturday School and Drawing Clubs.

I'm personally very grateful for the Prince's Drawing School because it's where I get my drawing workout once a week when I attend James Lloyd's class on Drawing a Head.

The Prince's School of Traditional Arts

The scope of the Prince's School of the Traditional Arts ranges from icon-making to Indian miniature painting, stained glass, mosaic craft, woodwork, biomorphic drawing and more.

It offers postgraduate degrees and a range of short courses for the general public. The School also has a number of outreach programmes around the UK.

It also occupies the same converted warehouse in Shoreditch as the Drawing School and had an exhibition of traditional arts on the ground floor recently which was very impressive.

The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts

A more recent educational charity is The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts. This provides access for young people who would otherwise grow up having had very little or no contact with the arts or opportunity to engage with them. The basic notion is that the arts (in thei widest sense) have a role to play in the development of a child and their understanding of shared cultures. You can read more about the Prince's involvement in Charles, the Prince of Arts

Why the arts?

Engaging with the arts enriches young peoples lives, nurtures creativity and improves self esteem and skills. Through our work children learn that cultural venues are welcoming, accessible and exciting places to visit. Other areas which arts access can impact upon include:

• Unlocking talent
• Raising aspirations
• Improving confidence
• Developing intellectual, social and emotional skills
• Developing physical skills
• Changing behaviour and attitudes to learning

The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts hopes to give children the confidence and inspiration to kindle a life-long love of the arts.

Launched as a pilot in 2002 it became an independent charity in 2006. Since then it has worked with 35, 000 children to deliver an experience of the arts which is quality oriented.

• Art and Kids Week runs annually in the Autumn.
  
• Arts organisations can take advantage of the free online event listing guide
• The Arts Events for children lists events for different age groups in different areas of the UK.
• The Great Art Quest 2008 aims to introduce 100 children from 16 primary schools to the visual arts. Four art galleries: Graves Art Gallery (Sheffield), The Harris Museum (Preston), The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) and The Courtauld Institute of Art (London) will work in partnerships with local primary schools.
• The website provides advice and documents for people wanting to get involved.
• Plus you can read about the real and very positive and measurable impact on children of their involvement with the arts in Spotlight on Children and the Arts (newsletter/pdf file)
  

Arts and Business

Arts and Business is also one of the Prince's Charities. It aims to get business people helping the arts and the arts inspiring business people. It helps to promote networking and the exchange and development of skills between the business and arts communities.

The Highgrove Florilegium

Earlier this year in Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium is published, I highlighted the fact that the Prince was sponsoring the production of a Florilegium of the gardens at Highgrove, his home in Gloucestershire - which is one of the most well-known organic gardens in the United Kingdom.

The artists are still working on plants that will form the second volume and the first bound copies of Volume 2 are expected in the summer of 2009. You can view a gallery of images from the first volume here.

A footnote

For some reason, newspapers have chosen to ridicule Prince Charles over the years for some of the stances he has taken on various topics (eg organic gardening).

However I've noted that more and more of his themes and causes are ones which are taken up and endorsed over time by first the public and then various governments. I guess that's probably as much of a comment on the wisdom of the public as the Prince!

I for one certainly think that his sponsorship of learning and patronage of art, drawing, traditional arts and the general involvement of children with the arts creates a very significant legacy for the future.

Review: Prince & Patron Exhibition at Buckingham Palace

The Queen has departed for Scotland and Buckingham Palace has opened up its State Rooms for summer visitors to London - and I'll also be taking a break after this post...

Every summer there is also an exhibition for the visitors to the State Rooms - and this year it's called Prince & Patron.

The exhibition marks HRH Prince of Wales's 70th year and his 70th birthday later this year and his abiding interest in the arts and particularly the visual arts.

The Prince of Wales has enjoyed a life-long passion for art and, as Chairman of The Royal Collection Trust and Patron of several arts charities, has promoted the creation and understanding of art worldwide. 

The exhibition opened to the public on Saturday 21 Jul 2018 and continues until Sunday, 30 Sep 2018.

I went to see it last Friday and below are some photos of what's included and some comments about the nature of the exhibition.

Prince and Patron - the exhibition

The exhibition includes a cedar wood pavilion in the centre of Afghan design.

I'm not sure that many people realise that the Prince of Wales is the Chairman of The Royal Collection Trust and Patron of several arts charities

Prince Charles has brought together what is in my view a very personal exhibition - reflecting both his life and his interests. The exhibition contains over 100 works of art - drawings, paintings, decorative items and artifacts, selected from the Royal Collection, his own collection and created by artists supported by three of His Royal Highness's charities

• The Royal Drawing School - founded by the Prince in 2000 as an independent educational charity raising the standard and profile of observational drawing through teaching and practice.
• The Prince's Foundation School of Traditional Arts - focuses on the practice and research of the traditional arts
• Turquoise Mountain - which has trained over 5000 traditional builders and artisans in Afghanistan

‘These charities have achieved more than I could ever have hoped, often in ways that I would never have expected. I am delighted that they now have an opportunity to show their work in Buckingham Palace and together with some of my favourites from the Royal Collection.’

I think maybe the exhibition will reveal what many people may not have realised - that the Prince personally commissions a lot of artwork and artifacts by skilled craftspeople for the Royal Collection and for his own homes.

The look of the exhibition - a rather large drawing room!

As I walked round the exhibition, I kept being reminded that the walls looked a bit like the eclectic collection of items you might find in the home of a dedicated collector with a very clear view about what he likes.

It's very much NOT a normal exhibition display where items are separated and organised.

It's not unlike some of the rooms used by the family at Clarence House.
Reinforced by the usual side tables with domestic items, books, lamps and family photos

RHS Botanical Art 2016 - Selected Artists

Thirty five botanical artists have been selected by the RHS Picture Committee to exhibit at the dedicated RHS Botanical Art Show 2016 in the Lindley Hall in the City of Westminster on 26-27 February 2016. This is the largest number of botanical artists in one RHS Botanical Art show during the time I've been visiting.

Below you can find

• A list of the artists exhibiting in 2016 organised by the country of origin and/or where they live. 
• The subject matter for their exhibit is also listed. Some of them sound absolutely fascinating.
• I've added comments about the individual based on what I know about them or what I can glean from their website or other related sites.  These are intended to give you an idea about what sort of things people exhibiting botanical art with the RHS might get up to when not preparing for this exhibition. I hope budding botanical artists might find this information useful!  (TIP: when planning to exhibit make sure you have a website and that it's up to date!)

This was the RHS Botanical Art Show in 2015 - this year the stands have been changed.

Selected Artists

I recognise quite a few names and have indicated those who I know who have already been awarded an RHS  Gold Medal. I'm also including photos of those individuals I've previously met at Botanical Art Show when winning a gold medal!

It's going to be a great show - and I predict a stiff competition! Looks like we might have a lot of orchids to look at.

Australia

• Julie Nettleton: ‘Xanthorrhoea sp., Grass Trees’. Xanthorrhoea is a genus of majestic Australian native plants which can grow for hundreds of years.  I'm particularly looking forward to meeting Julie. She's a hugely talented artist and her amazing painting of Banksias was the 'exhibition image' for the 14th International Art Exhibition of Botanical Art and Illustration at the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation.  A slice through this drawing is the banner image for her website. I'm guessing, based on her website, that her exhibit will be related to her current project - and it looks as if the paintings will be spectacular!

Currently I am working on a major project to produce a monograph of significant Australian native plants growing in the North Head Sanctuary, Manly. The site is one of Australia’s last remaining pockets of bushland known as Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub. Here a rich diversity of native heathland plants grow on ancient, nutrient poor aeolian sands. It is classified as an endangered ecological community so the recording and celebration of what survives is important.

• Sandra Sanger GM (2010, 2013): ‘Orchids: Paphiopedilum and Australian Natives’. I met Sandra - who is based in Melbourne - when she won Gold in 2013. Sandra was also Highly Commended by the judges of the 2014 Margaret Flockton Award.  I know older artists will be interested in the fact that Sandra only started doing botanical art after she retired!

Hong Kong (China) 

• Mark Isaac-Williams: ‘The Invasive Chinese Banyan Tree’. From a seedling to a 500 year old house tree, Ficus microcarpa is relentless.  He exhibited at the 17th Annual Filoli Exhibition, USA in 2015

Italy

• Simonetta Occhipinti: ‘The Citrus Fruits of Medici Family’. A study of the ancient collection of citrus fruits which were first grown in the Medici family's Villa in Castello, near Florence, and in the Giardino di Boboli (Palazzo Pitti) in the centre of Florence, at the end of the sixteenth century. Simonetta does not appear to have awebsite and I couldn't find any information online. However I did find a very interesting website about the Medici Citrus fruit and more about the fruit on this nursery site!

The collection of Medici citruses has survived to the present day, despite the many events that took place through the centuries, and is preserved in Florence, in the garden of the Villa Medicea di Castello and the Boboli Gardens. This collection is of particular botanical and historical interest and consists of about a thousand potted plants, large and small, old and young, but in all cases extremely valuable, as they are all descendents of the Medici cultivars.

• Lidia Vanzetti GM (Italy): ‘Grapes of the Piedmont’ I had the pleasure of meeting Lidia in 2011 when she won a Gold Medal. She also exhibited at the 13th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration at the Hunt.

A Botanical Art Bonanza!

Botanical art fans are converging on London this week for the RHS Botanical Art Show. 

In terms of handing out Gold Medals for Botanical Art this is the most prestigious botanical art show in the world.  It effect it's the visual equivalent for botanical artists of the Olympics or the World Cup! Absolutely nothing else presents the same sort of challenge!

That's why in recent days botanical artists have jetted into London from all around the globe - to try and capture that elusive RHS Gold Medal. That said, we've got quite a few Gold Medallists who are returning to see if they can enhance their credibility by winning another one!.

Medals are being awarded as I write - and I'll be there at this evening's reception.

View of part of last year's exhibition in the RHS Lindley Hall
Each of the run of panels is an exhibit of a minimum of six works by one artist
Work is graded against various criteria
- but medal colour is often determined by the weakest not the best - so everything has to be excellent!

However, while in London to see this show there is also the most fantastic opportunity to see other top class botanical art exhibitions - and this is a list of the details of everything on offer in London - in terms of botanical art!

Those pursuing other genres might pause for a moment and reflect when there were this many top class of exhibitions in prestigious venues for other subject matter!

Royal Horticultural Society

The RHS Plant and Art Fair (10-12 July 2018) includes three international exhibitions of botanical art and photography. These are:

• The RHS Botanical Art Show
• The RHS Botanical Photography Show 
• The RHS Photographer of the Year 2018

The RHS Botanical Art Show

Venue: RHS Lindley Hall, Elverton Street,
Dates: 10-12 July 2018

For more information:

• official website - and vis news posts on Botanical Art and Artists (below)
• Exhibiting artists at RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 - and this list includes a significant number of former Gold Medal winners back for another try!
• Exhibits at the RHS Botanical Art Show 2018 - the themes for the portfolio of a minimum of six paintings to be shown by each exhibitor
• Trade Stand Exhibitors at the RHS Plant and Art Fair (July 2018)

Plus this is information about how the RHS Botanical Art Show works for those aspiring to show in 2020 (you're already too late for 2019!). It's the only show I know where you have to be approved BEFORE you can submit your artwork

• RHS Botanical Art Show #1 Approval to Submit
• RHS Botanical Art Show #2: The Judges and Judging Process
• RHS Botanical Art Show #3: Medals Awards and Feedback

This is also a show where it pays to sort your visa out in good time..... It loosk like we might have lost one exhibitor to visa problems at the UK end.... - which will be very disappointing

This is a video I made of last year's Botanical Art Show



The number of botanical artists this year - per country is as follows:

• 19 x UK + 1 group
• 7 x Japan
• 4 x Korea
• 2 x Italy
• 2 x New Zealand
• 2 x Turkey
• and one each from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Hong Kong, Thailand and the USA​

The RHS Botanical Photography Show

Venue: RHS Lawrence Hall, Greycoat Street, Westminster
Dates: 10-12 July 2018

Polina Plotnikova - at a previous show

More information:

• RHS Photography 2018 and 2019  | Botanical Art and Artists - includes list of exhibitors in 2018
• The RHS Photographer of the Year 2018 is an international competition for garden photographers run by the RHS.

Worth a Thousand Words

Venue: RHS Lindley Library 80 Vincent Square LONDON SW1P 2PE
Dates: 5 July - 17 August 2018

This is the "must see" for every visitor to the Botanical Art Show - if for no other reason than it is adjacent to the show in RHS HQ in Vincent Square.

View of part of the exhibition

More information:

• Official RHS webpage
• Worth a Thousand Words - exhibition at the RHS | Botanical Art and Artists - about  the previous Gold Medal winners whose gold-medal winning work acquired by the RHS is in this small exhibition.

Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

There are two exhibitions on display at the moment - in the same place and for the same dates.

Venue: Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Kew Gardens - which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year
​Dates: 31 March - 16 September 2018

​The Florilegium: The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

This is an exhibition by the Florilegium Society of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. It was originally mounted at the RBGS Gardens in Sydney in 2016 as part of the 200th anniversary of the Botanic Gardens. ​

Part of the Florilegium exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery at Kew

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - This is a world class exhibition and sets a very high standard for exhibitions by Florilegia

Links:

• Kew - The Florilegium: The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney
• My review - "The Florilegium: The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney" exhibition at Kew Gardens

Down Under II: Works from the Shirley Sherwood Collection

The second exhibition - Down Under II: Works from the Shirley Sherwood Collection - is a follow on from the first exhibition of artwork in the Shirley Sherwood Collection of native Australian and New Zealand plants created by local and international botanical artists.

Natural History Museum

There's always an exhibition of nature botanical or natural history in the Images of Nature Gallery at the Natural History Museum
Venue: Images of Nature Gallery, Natural History Museum

The Art of British Natural History : Images of Nature

When I last visited besides the examples of botanical artwork by many of the great artists from the past there were some paintings of natural habitat by Barbara Nicolson and a reproduction of a watercolour painting of orchids by the late Pandora Sellars

Orchids (1985) by Pandora Sellars (1936-2016)

Rumanian Cultural Institute

The exhibition of botanical paintings included in the Transylvania Florilegium has returned for July and August

• Venue: Romanian Cultural Institute (UK), 1 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8PH (nearest tube is Hyde Park Corner)
• Dates: 2 July to 31 August 2018
• Publishers: Published for The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation by Addison Publications Ltd London
• Artists - see the list in my blog post - Transylvania Florilegium at the Romanian Cultural Institute
• More details: the Highgrove website

Jonathan Cooper Gallery

Finally for the true and dedicated fans there are some excellent artworks by botanical artiosts from England, Scotland, Australia and the USA on display at Jonathan Cooper's 30th anniversary exhibition in Chelsea

• Venue:  Jonathan Cooper Gallery, 20 Park Walk, Chelsea, London, SW10 0AQ
• Dates: 12 - 21 July 2018
• Gallery Opening Times: Mon – Fri (10 – 6.30pm); Sat (11 – 4pm) Closed Bank Holidays
• Admission: Free
• Information: Botanical art at Jonathan Cooper: 30 years exhibition - opens 12 July 2018

A visit to the Chelsea Physic Garden

Staying in Chelsea, after my visit to Green & Stone, I went to see the Chelsea Physic Garden which lies in between the River Thames and the Chelsea Embankment and Royal Hospital Road.

It's a real haven of peace as well as being a wonderful garden for artists interested in botanical art.

The Chelsea Physic Garden was founded by the Society of Apothecaries in 1673 in order to promote the study of botany in relation to medicine, then known as the "physic" or healing arts. As the second oldest botanic garden in England it still fulfils the traditional functions of scientific research and plant conservation and undertakes to educate and inform as well as to provide the amenity of a walled "secret" garden in the heart of London.

You can read about more about the Workshipful Society of Apothecaries on their website.

The word 'apothecary' is derived from apotheca, meaning a place where wine, spices and herbs were stored. During the thirteenth century it came into use in this country to describe a person who kept a stock of these commodities, which he sold from his shop or street stall....By the mid-sixteenth century apothecaries had become the equivalent of today's community pharmacists, dealing mainly with the preparation and sale of substances for medicinal purposes.
Origins and History of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries

The emphasis of the garden was and is very much on plants and health. Latterly the renewed interest in natural' remedies means that there is more interest in the Chelsea Physic Garden. Besides the order beds found in botanic gardens, the garden has also developed

• a pharmaceutical garden which has a display of plants which yield therapeutic compounds of proven value in current medicinal practice and are in world-wide use today.
• a Garden of World Medicine. This is when I found out what an ethnobotanical display means . Basically it means a display of plants used for medicinal and healing purposes by a wide variety of peoples.
  

The Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society was formed by a small groups of botanical artists in 1995, with the primary aim of recording in paintings and drawings, the plants growing in the Physic Garden.

More than 5,000 plants are listed in the Garden's collection which makes it an extremely challenging project to portray the Garden's entire collection. Over 200 watercolours and 120 drawings have currently been accepted and in effect the work to complete the Florilegiun and has only just started.

The Florilegium Society started from a small groups of students who had just completed the first ever botanical illustration course run by the English Gardening School, which is linked to the Chelsea Physic Garden. Most of the classes at The English Gardening School are held at the Chelsea Physic Garden. The School provides:

• short courses in botanical painting - including drawing with pen and ink
• a diploma course in botanical painting. The course leans towards the artistic recording of plants rather than the strictly scientific and is open to all those who are interested in learning to paint plants botanically. Fay Ballard, whose work I very much admire and who has contributed work to the Highgrove Florilegium, has completed this diploma course.
  

I was very struck by the number of 'spike' plants in the garden - hence the theme of my photos. What I was also struck by was how many different plants were contained in what is a relatively small space compared to most botanical gardens. It seemed as if there was something new to look at with every step around the garden.

Visiting times: The Garden is open on Wednesdays, Thursday, Fridays, Sundays and Bank Holidays from noon between 19 March - 31 October and has an entrance charge. It's open later in the evening on Wednesdays during July and August. The main entrance, which is a little difficult to spot, is at 66 Royal Hospital Road.

The area around the Physic Garden is ripe with other buildings which have topical and/or historical associations - so if you plan on visiting make sure to allow time for loitering, and maybe having lunch...........

• Right next door, at 68-69 Royal Hospital Road is Restaurant Gordon Ramsay!
  
• I also walked past Dante Gabriel Rossetti's house at 16 Cheyne Walk on my way to the garden
  
• on my way back to Sloane Square, I did a detour down Tite Street past John Singer Sargent's house and studio at No. 31 - where all the fashionable ladies and gents came to have their portraits painted!
  

Next time I visit I think I might do the Chelsea Walk as detailed in the Virtual Museum created by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

I'm currently thinking of revisiting the garden next week before I go to the Chelsea Flower Show - I've got my ticket for next Wednesday!

(L) Dante Gabriel Rossetti's house in Cheyne Walk
(R) John Singer Sargent's home and studio in Tite Street

Links:

• Chelsea Physic Garden
• Google Maps - 66 Hospital Road
• RBKC - Virtual Museum - Chelsea Walk
  
• Chelsea Physic Garden
• Tite Street
• Cheyne Walk
• Cheyne Walk 1-30
• Chelsea Embankment