The world of Priscilla Bury was that of Victorian social norms, wherein a young lady of means was expected to learn flower painting by coloring outline drawings in specially designed instruction books. Daughter of a wealthy Liverpool merchant, she found her favorite subjects in the amaryllises and lilies that grew in her family’s greenhouse, and which she started to paint in watercolor while still in her twenties. Based on these drawings was A Selection of Hexandrian Plants (1831–34), a set of fifty-one lithographs financed in part by a group of subscribers. Over the years, Bury’s style evolved from exquisite flattened forms that resembled paper cutouts to voluminous “portraits” of plants (as she referred to them), exemplified by Amaryllis fulgida.
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Artist unknown, woodcut, from Pietro Andrea Mattioli, Commentarii in sex libros Pedacci Dioscoridis (Venice: Valgrisi, 1565)
Artist unknown, ca. 1560s, 22 × 16 × 2 cm, wood carving
Jessie Wei-Hsuan Chen, 2020, 22 × 16 × 2 cm, wood carving
Wilhelm Sandler, 55 × 38 cm, hand-colored lithograph, from Johann Emanuel Pohl, Plantarum Brasiliae icones et descriptiones, vol. 2 (Vienna: Strauss, 1827–31)
Wilhelm Sandler, 55 × 38 cm, hand-colored lithograph, from Johann Emanuel Pohl, Plantarum Brasiliae icones et descriptiones, vol. 2 (Vienna: Strauss, 1827–31)
Pieter Sluyter after Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), hand-colored etching and engraving, from Maria Sibylla Merian, Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium (Amsterdam: Oosterwyk, 1719), plate 45
Joseph Mulder after Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), hand-colored etching and engraving, from Maria Sibylla Merian, Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium (Amsterdam: Oosterwyk, 1719), plate 1
Lydia Byam (1772–after 1799), watercolor, from A Collection of Exotics, from the Island of Antigua, by a Lady (London: White, ca. 1799), plate 9
Lydia Byam (1772–after 1799), watercolor, from A Collection of Exotics, from the Island of Antigua, by a Lady (London: White, ca. 1799), plate 10
Giovanna Garzoni (1600–70), Musa, watercolor and gouache, from Piante Varie (ca. 1631), folio 8r
Giovanna Garzoni (1600–70), watercolor and gouache, signed “GARZON,” from Piante Varie (ca. 1631), folio 34r
Anna Maria Vaiani (fl. 1627–50), engraving, signed “Anna M.a Vaiana,” from Giovanni Battista Ferrari, De florum cultura (Rome: Stephanus Paulinus, 1633)
Magdalena Rosina Funck, née Heuchelin (1672–95), watercolor, from Blumenbuch (1692)
Augusta Jane Robley, née Penfold (1809–68), color lithograph, from Augusta Robley, A Selection of Madeira Flowers, drawn and coloured from nature, with text by Reverend William Lewes Pugh Garnons (1791–1863) (London: Reeve, Brothers, 1845), plate 1
Augusta Jane Robley, née Penfold (1809–68), color lithograph, from Augusta Robley, A Selection of Madeira Flowers, drawn and coloured from nature, with text by Reverend William Lewes Pugh Garnons (1791–1863) (London: Reeve, Brothers, 1845), plate 4
Clara Maria Pope, née Leigh (1767–1838), 1818, 58.2 × 49.6 cm, gouache with gum arabic, signed and dated “Clara Maria Pope 1818,” illustration for Samuel Curtis, The Beauties of Flora (Gamston: Curtis, 1820)
Clara Maria Pope, née Leigh (1767–1838), before 1820, 58.2 × 49.6 cm, watercolor and gouache, signed “Clara Maria Pope,” illustration for Samuel Curtis, The Beauties of Flora (Gamston: Curtis, 1820)
Camille de Chantereine (1810–47), ca. 1834–47, 34.8 × 26.5 cm, watercolor on vellum, signed in pencil “C de Chantereine / Peintre de fleurs de La Majesté / l’Imperatrice Douairière du Brazil / Duchesse de Braganza”
Priscilla Susan Bury, née Falkner (1799–1872), 1832, 54 × 42.5 cm, gouache, signed and dated “P. S. Bury del.t Apr. 1832”