Picture Details
Marigold, watercolour on paper.
Partner:
Kew GardensImage reference:
ILLUS88.0/496.0WOrigin:
IndiaArtist / Date:
Samlall, 1809Donor / Date:
1867Size:
403 x 234 mmDescription:
Click here for more details
It is unusual to find the artist's name on a botanical illustration created in India. The inscriptions seen here are not those of the artist, more likely by Francis Hamilton (nee Buchanan), Superintendent of the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, 1814-15. The painting has also been dated, corroborated by the watermark of the paper 'Whatman 1804'. Kew holds twelve illustrations that are known to be by Samlall, although there are other paintings in the collections that strongly resemble his style. The illustration was originally only labelled 'Tagetes.....Lin.' The word 'patula' has been added later, once a botanist was sure of the exact species. Many of the illustrations at Kew have been labelled and relabelled by botanists, sometimes six or seven times. Such alterations reflect the changing practices of plant taxonomy; changes which still take place today.
