Varen c. 1856 - 1870

This pencil drawing of ferns was made by Maria Vos, a Dutch artist, at an unknown date. Vos lived through a time of burgeoning interest in science and natural history, a world in which accurate visual representation was critical to the circulation of new knowledge. While this study is a simple sketch, it’s worth thinking about the social and institutional contexts that would have shaped her artistic production. Was this drawn as a purely personal study, or with an eye to its potential usefulness in scientific illustration? How might gender have influenced the artist’s access to formal training or patronage? As historians, we can look to botanical illustration, scientific literature, and biographical information to better understand the place of women artists in the scientific discourses of the 19th century. Careful attention to the culture surrounding this image can reveal the conditions that made its creation possible, and shape our understanding of its meaning.