Botanical Watercolours I c. 1784 - 1820

These two albums of botanical paintings derive from what was once a 27 volume set depicting native plants of Britain. They were created by Louisa Finch, Countess of Aylesford whose maternal grandmother was the renowned naturalist and collector, Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland. Lady Aylesford began the project in 1784, and when she concluded in 1818 she had painted over 2,800 botanical specimens. Many of these specimens she collected herself through fieldwork expeditions, but she also received hundreds of samples from an extensive correspondence network of experts located throughout Britain. Aylesford was widely respected in her day by other botanists, both for her scientific knowledge and her artistic abilities.