Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
Gallery 102
Telephone:
020 7942 2000
Email: www.vam.ac.uk
16 June - 11 December 2011 Free admission
Flower painting was a conventional subject for a girl of Beatrix’s class. From a young age she drew inspiration from books such as John E. Sowerby’s British Wild Flowers, a lavish present from her grandmother, and Vere Foster’s popular drawing manuals. Mostly, however, Beatrix shared the Pre-Raphaelites’ passion for the ‘meticulous copying of flowers & plants’ from life. These drawings blend characteristics of botanical illustration, concerned with the accurate depiction and identification of plants, with those of flower painting, a genteel art celebrating the beauty of nature. Whether drawing for serious study or for enjoyment Beatrix combines scientific detachment with a keen sense of wonder and an expert appreciation of composition and design.
Beatrix later remarked that the ‘careful botanical studies of my youth’ informed the ‘reality’ of her fantasy drawings. Precisely drawn flowers people her prettiest and best known books: geraniums in The Tale of Peter Rabbit; carnations and fuchsias in The Tale of Benjamin Bunny; water lilies in The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher; foxgloves in The Tale of Jemima Puddle-duck, and an abundance of lilies, pansies, roses and snapdragons in The Tale of Tom Kitten.
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Copyright Frederick Warne & Co. 1929, 2011
