The past, present and future of botanical art and illustration

Lecturer: Timothy Walker

The history of botanical illustration stretches back some 20,000 years,  and is still considered to be superior to the photograph as a record of any plant and flower. This lecture looks at illustrations and their highly artistic creators.

Many people now carry a phone with a camera capable of taking very high-quality pictures, and yet the painting of botanical specimens persists with new Florilegium Societies still being formed.  Why is a drawing and painting still considered to be superior to a digital image?  This talk looks at the history of botanical illustration from the early herbals 1,500 years ago to the present day, taking in the lives of both the artists and the plants immortalised in the artwork