The Botanical Magazine or Flower Garden Displayed: Umbel-Flowering Bulb-Bearing Orange-Lily

1807

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

The Botanical Magazine or Flower Garden Displayed: Umbel-Flowering Bulb-Bearing Orange-Lily is a 1807 by Thomas Curtis, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Thomas Curtis
When & what style?: 1807 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This painting shows a single orange lily with sharp green leaves against a plain background. The artist used soft watercolor washes to keep the focus on the flower’s shape and delicate petals. Tiny brush strokes let you almost feel the lily’s waxy texture. Part of a series made for a plant magazine, its details helped gardeners grow the bulbs at home. It’s one of many plates printed in the early 1800s to share new blooms with readers. If you like this style, look up Pierre-Joseph Redouté—he painted roses in a similar way.

The story of this work

Overview

England was central to botanical concerns in the 18th century. For example, Kew Gardens was founded in 1721 and became a major institution for knowledge about plants from every continent. Interest in gardening led William Curtis to found the specialized magazine Botanical Magazine: or Flower Garden Displayed in 1787. Curtis aimed “to illustrate and describe the most ornamental flowering plants including information on their cultivation and illustrations drawn from living plants and colored as near to nature as the imperfection of color will admit.”

Read the full account in the museum source.