The Beauty of the Flower - by Stephen A Harris (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In a world flooded with images designed to create memories, validate perceptions and influence others, botanical illustration is about creating technically accurate depictions of plants. Reproductions of centuries-old botanical illustrations frequently adorn greetings cards, pottery and advertising, to promote heritage or generate income, yet their art is scientific: its purpose is to record, display and transmit scientific data. The Beauty of the Flower shows us how scientific botanical illustrations are collaborations among artists, scientists and publishers. It explores the evolution and interchanges of these illustrations since the mid-fifteenth century, the ways in which they have been used to communicate scientific ideas about plants and how views of botanical imagery change. Featuring unique images rarely seen outside of specialist literature this book reveals the fascinating stories behind these remarkable illustrations." --

Book Synopsis

Blooming with rare archival images, the story of scientific botanical illustrations over nearly seven hundred years.

In a world flooded with images designed to create memories, validate perceptions, and influence others, botanical illustration is about something much more focused: creating technically accurate depictions of plants. Reproductions of centuries-old botanical illustrations frequently adorn greeting cards, pottery, and advertising, to promote heritage or generate income, yet their art is scientific: intended to record, display, and transmit scientific data. The Beauty of the Flower tells the backstory of these images, showing us how scientific botanical illustrations are collaborations among artists, scientists, and publishers. It explores the evolution and interchanges of these illustrations since the mid-fifteenth century, how they have been used to communicate scientific ideas about plants, and how views of botanical imagery change. Featuring unique images rarely seen outside of specialist literature, this book reveals the fascinating stories behind these remarkable illustrations.

Review Quotes

"Visually stunning and astonishing in scope, Harris's The Beauty of the Flower is a history of botanical illustration that has all the makings of a classic reference text. . . . The Beauty of the Flower will delight plant-lovers and scholars alike with its magnificent illustrations and captivating account of the history of botanical study."-- "Foreword Reviews (starred review)"

"Filled with splendid reproductions of images from herbals and natural history books of the past. . . . [The book is] lovely to look at, while the scholarly text describes both how conventions in illustration developed over the centuries and how scientific progress as well as artistic fashion is reflected in the depiction of botanic specimens."-- "Natural History"

"Scientific botanical illustrations are collaborations among artists, scientists and publishers. This book explores their evolution since the mid-fifteenth century, the ways in which they have been used to communicate scientific ideas about plants and how views of botanical imagery change."-- "Garden Answers"

"Harris is a wordsmith par excellence who writes with knowledge, wit, and passion. The Beauty of the Flower--apart from being an extremely erudite and comprehensive account of its subject matter--has all the feel of a labor of love . . . . The Beauty of the Flower is a fascinating, factual, phytological exploration of the art and science of botanical illustration. It is a beautiful book, that's very well-researched and referenced. . . . Insightful, comprehensive, very well-written, and abundantly-illustrated."-- "Plant Cuttings"

"Scientific botanical illustration flowered in the Renaissance, thrived in the eighteenth century and declined in the nineteenth century with the rise of photography. Today it is generally associated mostly with art. But it remains 'art with a scientific purpose: to record, display and convey scientific data about plants, ' argues Harris, curator of Oxford University Herbaria, UK. His history, colourfully illustrated with exquisite illustrations unfamiliar outside specialist literature, brilliantly unifies art and science."-- "Nature"

"The Beauty of the Flower twins a dazzling and well-chosen display of botanical illustrations with a cogent and readable analysis of the botanical exploration and science that led to it. Harris is uniquely well-placed to unpick the connections of art, science, and publishing, and his book covers both familiar and unfamiliar ground over the last 500 years. It is generous in its coverage and will appeal to a broad range of readers, whether interested in plants, gardens, history, or the myriad links between them."--Mark Nesbitt, Senior Research Leader - Interdisciplinary Research, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

"This captivating and carefully researched book comprehensively examines the historical journey of botanical illustration through art and science. Using rarely seen images and with a deep understanding of his subject, Harris clearly demonstrates his passion for plants. We are fortunate that he has chosen to share his lifelong interest in botany, and its interpretation, with this book, which specialists and nonspecialists alike will enjoy."--Valerie Oxley, president, Institute for Analytical Plant Illustration and chair, The Florilegium Society at Sheffield's Botanical Gardens

About the Author

Stephen A. Harris is associate professor of plant sciences and curator of the herbarium at the University of Oxford. His books include Sunflowers, also published by Reaktion Books, and Roots to Seeds: 400 Years of Oxford Botany.