The Second Project
Botanic Endeavour
The Florilegium Society celebrates the Banks and Solander collection
The second project links the historic Banks and Solander specimens held in the National Herbarium of NSW with the Living Collection of the three Gardens to mark the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s voyage in HMB Endeavour.
A beautiful limited edition publication features these recently gifted paintings.
The focus is the time and place of the collection of these specimens, their history and invites reflection on what they mean to science, to the Indigenous peoples, to those who collected them and to the Gardens today.
The 45 paintings are reproduced in a full colour and paired with the newly digitised Banks and Solander specimen images. Written by Colleen Morris, each species has its indigenous names and uses where known, a description and quotes from the journals of Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander and artist Sydney Parkinson. It includes a preface by Denise Ora, Executive Director, Botanic Gardens and Centennial Parklands, a foreword by Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE, an introduction to the Florilegium by Beverly Allen and an essay on the Banks collection by Dr Brett Summerell, Director, Research & Chief Botanist, Botanic Gardens and Centennial Parklands.
Published by the Florilegium Society with support from the Australian Garden History Society it is limited to 600 copies. The size is 245 x 300mm and 132 pages.
The price is AUD65.
As the planned exhibition Botanic Endeavour has been postponed, the book is available from the Society by mail order.
Click here for further information: botanic.endeavour@gmail.com
Click here to download order form
Only a small number of the 75 artists who have contributed to the Florilegium since inception are able to visit the three Gardens, but they have given so much of their time and energy and skill to create these important paintings. Their generosity is the foundation of the projects
Like the scientific accuracy that botanical art adheres to, the richness of the horticultural displays in the Royal Botanic Gardens is underpinned by the tradition of a scientific garden, plant collecting and the educational role that the Gardens encompass as part of our heritage.
Credits:
On Botanical Illustration page - Image representing 'Florilegium': Kalopanax septemlobus - Artist: Noriko Watanabe
Slider images above - Lambertia formosa - Elaine Musgrave; Banksia marginata - Margaret Pieroni; Isopogon anemonifolius - Mary Anne Mein; Erythina vespertilio - Dianne Sutherland; Hakea gibbosa - Linda Catchlove; Platycerium bifurcatum - Fiona McKinnon; Epacris microphylla - Lesley Elkan; Callistemon viminalis - Leigh Ann Gale; Actinotus helianthi - Beverly Allen and Telmatoblechnum indicum - Halina Steele. All images copyright RBG&DT