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Rich Heritage represents botanical artists and planthunters from the past
In the 16th to 18th centuries, botanical artists and plant hunters traversed the globe, uncovering new species and recording them in intricate illustrations and herbaria. These works were more than scientific documentation; they were art forms that revealed the wonder of nature.
Read all about the stories of botanical artists and plant hunters;
Maria Sibylla Merian
1647 Frankfurt (DE) - 17171 Amsterdam (NL)
Merian’s intricate artwork transformed how nature was portrayed, blending scientific precision with artistic beauty. Her vibrant illustrations of butterflies, insects, and plants in her book 'Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium' were both visually stunning and scientifically groundbreaking. Through her careful studies of insects and their host plants in Suriname, she pioneered modern entomology and earned recognition as one of the first scientific artists and early ecologists.
Holding institution: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Anna Atkins
1799 Kent (UK) – 1871 Halstead (UK)
Atkins was an English botanist and photographer, revered for her mastery of cyanotypes, an early art of capturing light. In 1843, she unveiled Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, a luminous book where science and art entwined, its pages blooming with blue-toned prints. With sunlight as her brush and plants as her muse, Atkins crafted delicate impressions, preserving nature’s beauty in a sea of azure.
Holding institutions: The British Library, The New York Public Library, The J. Paul Getty Museum and Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Berthe Hoola van Nooten
1817 Utrecht (NL) - 1892 Jakarta ( Indonesia)
Fleurs, Fruits et Feuillages Choisis de L’Ile de Java is a stunning botanical masterpiece by Berthe Hoola van Nooten, published in 1863. This richly illustrated work showcases the vibrant flora of Java through detailed lithographs, celebrated for their scientific accuracy and artistic beauty. With her eye for color and form, van Nooten immortalized the island's exotic plants with vibrant colors, creating a timeless tribute to the natural world and a vital contribution to botanical art and currents studies of the biodiversity of Java.
Holding institutions: Missouri Botanical garden, Allard Pierson ,Wageningen University & Research.
Jan Brandes
1743 Bodegraven (NL) - 1808 Skälsebo (Sweden)
Brandes arrived on Java in 1778 as a Lutheran preacher, leaving behind a rare visual archive of colonial history and nature’s richness. Jan was a lifelong artist, known for drawing every day directly from life, offering an unique glimpse into 18th-century colonial life of the Dutch VOC in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and South Africa. His works capture a wide range of subjects, including exotic plants, showcasing the unique biodiversity and life of the time. Many of which were never depicted by other artists.
Holding institution: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
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Robert Jacob Gordon
1743 Doesburg (NL) - 1795 Cape Town (SA)
Gordon was a son of a prominent Dutch family of Scottish descent. He served as a military officer of the Dutch East India Company( VOC). In addition to being an soldier and diplomat he was an explorer and a skilled artist. He created detailed sketches, drawings and watercolors during his 7 expeditions throughout South Africa, documenting the landscapes, people, and the biodiversity he encountered with meticulous detail. He went on more expeditions than any other 18th-century explorer of Southern Africa and visited regions that were largely unknown to Europeans at the time like the Orange River and the Great Fish River.
Holding institution: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Monickx atlas
1682
Joan Huydecoper (mayor of Amsterdam) and Jan Commelin (merchant) took the initiative to establish a new Hortus Medicus for the city of Amsterdam. Thanks to their contacts with traders of the East India Company (VOC) they created one of the richest plant collections in Europe, a jewel in every respect for the city.
They apparently preferred beautifully colored, lifelike plants to crushed, dried and discolored real plants to document the plantcollection. At least four skilled Dutch illustrators have contributed to this extensive project, an image bank avant-la-lettre. The vast majority of watercolor drawings are by Jan Moninckx: 273 sheets are signed by him. Maria Moninckx, possibly related, produced 101 watercolors; the collection owes its name to them.
Holding institution: University of Amsterdam / Allard Pierson Museum.
Rich Heritage
Botanical Fine Art Prints
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Thematerkade 4
3455 RX
Utrecht/Haarzuilens
The Netherlands
+31 6 22520167
info@richheritage.eu
KVKH Amsterdam: 59742199
