Picture Details
Mango fruit, watercolour, pencil and ink on paper.
Partner:
Kew GardensImage reference:
ILLUS53.01/7.0FOrigin:
Darbhanga, IndiaArtist / Date:
Charles Maries, 1886Size:
530 x 375 mmDescription:
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Few people knew more about mangoes in the 19th century than the painter of this illustration, Charles Maries. Employed as Manager of the State Gardens of the Maharajah of Gwalior, Maries spent time examining the fruit trees of the Tirhoot District of north India, while working on the design of the Maharajah of Darbhangar's gardens. Here Maries made notes on the texture, flavour, colour, history and location of a wide variety of mangoes that grew both wild and in cultivation. His intention was to publish his findings in a book that would disseminate an understanding of the fruit in both Europe and in India, but unfortunately his work was never finished. The manuscripts and drawings remain in the Archives at Kew.
