Marianne North was a 19th century traveller and plant painter
who painted the plants she found on her travels and founded a Gallery to house them at Kew Gardens
who painted the plants she found on her travels and founded a Gallery to house them at Kew Gardens
Introduction
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Marianne North was a Victorian plant hunter and prolific botanical painter.
She was an energetic, experienced and enthusiastic traveller who visited many continents and many countries in pursuit of interesting plants to paint. Between 1871 and 1885 Marianne North painted over 800 paintings while visiting 17 countries on 6 continents in 14 years - during visits to
Unusually for a botanical painter - especially one who was travelling - she painted in oils. Towards the end of her life. she presented her life's work - 832 paintings - to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and provided the funds for a Gallery to house it. |
This page covers:
Marianne North c.1880 (age 50) (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
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Biography and Travels of Marianne North (1830-1890)
We know a lot about the life of Marianne North due to the fact that she kept diaries and wrote her autobiography in her latter years. After her death, this was edited by her sister and published. (Read it online and/or download it)
The front page of her autobiography "Recollections of a Happy Life" which was edited by her sister and published after her death in 1894.
1830-1870
The First 40 years - Life in Hastings and the UK and Travels in Europe
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24th October 1830: Born in Hastings - at Hastings Lodge, 2 Old London Road, Hastings, East Sussex (on the corner of Ashburnham Road and Old London Road)
She was the child of two political families. Her father was Frederick North DL, JP (1800-1869), who was elected as the Whig/Liberal MP for Hastings seven times between 1831 and 1869. Her mother was Janet (d.1855), daughter of Sir John Marjoribanks M.P., 1st Baronet of Lees in the County of Berwick, in 1825. She had two siblings - a younger brother Charles and a younger sister Catherine. Her family was "comfortably off" and cultured. As a child she spent much time on travels between family homes in Hastings, Norfolk and London. Sir William Hooker, the Director of Kew (who founded the Herbarium (1853) and built the Palm House at Kew Gardens) was a friend of her father and she spent time at Kew. During visits to the Palm House she developed a love for exotic flora and the plants of the tropics. She displayed a talent for painting from an early age. Her family supported Marianne’s attempts at singing and painting as suitable "hobby" activities for a Victorian lady. She also studiously collected specimens of plants and grasses near her holiday home in Norfolk. 1847 - 1850 - a three-year family trip through Europe. North studied flower painting, botany, and music. 1855 - her mother died. Her mother had made her promise she would never leave her father. Subsequently the house was let in the summer and she travelled extensively with her father and sister in Europe. They visited Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Italy, Greece and the Bosphorus.. North recorded her trips in both a diary and a sketchbook. This means that when she embarked on her "around the world" travels to far flung places she was already a seasoned traveller. 1864 - her sister married. North remained her father's companion for the last five years of his life. |
Where she lived until the age of 40 when she started travelling on her own all over the world.
1865 - Frederick North lost his parliamentary seat - which provided a great excuse for the two do yet more travelling! They visited Switzerland, the South Tirol, Egypt, and Syria.
1867 (age 37): received her first lessons in oil painting from Robert Hawker Dowling (1827-1886) who was an Australian colonial artist originally born in England better known for painting figures than flowers. 1869 - Her father became ill during a trip to the Alps. He returned with her to Hastings where he died. The death of her father had a profound effect on her. As his companion and friend, he had become the centre of her world. She received a large inheritance on his death. She was able to spend this as she wished as she never married. North abhorred the idea of marriage. Her view was that it turned women into 'a sort of upper servant’. |
1871 - 1885
The next 24 years - Travelling to six continents painting plants and flowers
'I had long dreamed of going to some tropical country to paint its peculiar vegetation on the spot in natural abundant luxuriance.'
From her autobiography - this double page spread shows the countries Marianne North visited and the floras she illustrated
North did go against the conventions of her day deciding to travel and paint alone. Moreover, she did so without any significant concerns about her own safety or the way she looked and behaved.
PhD thesis by Lynne Helen Gladston
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1871 - Age 40, she sold Hastings Lodge and began her solo travels around the world in pursuit of her devotion to botanical painting.
She travelled on her own, having found it difficult to find a satisfactory companion. Her travel as a single woman was helped by her family's political connections. She was able to furnish "letters of introduction" to ambassadors, viceroys, rajahs, governors and ministers all over the world. However she was not fond of conventional society and typically tended to prefer to make her way - on her own - across the next new country she was visiting. 1871-72- Her first trip covered United States, Canada and Jamaica. |
My sister was no botanist in the technical sense of the term; her feeling for plants in their beautiful living personality was more like that which we all have for human friends. She could never bear to see flowers uselessly gathered their harmless lives destroyed. |
A photo of
Marianne North painting
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Subsequently she travelled alone into the interior of Brazil and completed more than 100 paintings during her eight-month stay in Brazil.
1875 - Visited Tenerife and the Canary islands 1875-77 - She then started a two year journey around the world. She painted flowers in California, Japan, Borneo, Java, and Ceylon. 1877 - Exhibited some of her paintings in Kensington Gallery 1878-79 - Visited India and travelled alone around the country. Produced 200 paintings. 1879 - Exhibition of her paintings in a London gallery 1879 - Wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker, the Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew - who she knew personally - with an offer to donate her paintings and provide the funds to create a building to house them. She subsequently donated her paintings (as a collection) to Kew Botanic Gardens. |
Marianne North (1830-1890) at her home in Ceylon. Photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron
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1880 - Visited Borneo Australia and New Zealand (at the suggestion of Charles Darwin) and California. Produced 300 paintings in Australia.
An album containing 41 paintings made by Marianne North during her travels in Sicily, Canada, India, Tenerife and Australia was recently donated to Kew. 1881 - Visited Charles Darwin at his home, Down House in Kent, to show him her Australian paintings. On 2 August 1881, Darwin wrote to North to tell her that he is pleased to have seen her Australian pictures, and to comment upon their vividness. 2nd August 1881 My Dear Miss North, – I am much obliged for the “Australian Sheep,” which is very curious. If I had I seen it from a yard’s distance lying on a table, I would have wagered that it was a coral of the genus Porites. |
Musk Tree and background of Evergreen "Beech," Victoria.
Olearia argophylla by Marianne North | painted 1880 in Victoria Australia
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1881 - The Gallery opens at Kew
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1886-1890 - The last 4 years
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Commemoration
Her contribution to botany and botanical art has been commemorated through botanical names
Her paintings can be seen in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens (see videos below and above)
In 2015 a further 41 paintings were donated to the collection by Marianne North's grandniece and grandnephews.
- A genus was named after her - Northia
- Northea seychellana (a tree in the Seychelles, a previously unreported genus)
- Nepenthes northiana (the large pitcher plant of Borneo, first painted by her)
- Crinum northianum, (one of the Amaryllis relatives)
- Areca northiana (one of the feather palms)
- Kniphofia northiana (one of the African torch lilies or poker plants)
Her paintings can be seen in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens (see videos below and above)
In 2015 a further 41 paintings were donated to the collection by Marianne North's grandniece and grandnephews.
The video below is a talk about Marianne North by Michelle Payne at the Linnean Society. It describes her travels and highlights her paintings from different parts of the world.
The video below The Remarkable Miss North includes highlights from the BBC4 documentary Kew's Forgotten Queen presented by actress Emilia Fox.
In this one-off documentary, we unveil the life and times of this extraordinary woman whose passion for plants has established her as one of the most important female botanists of all time. The film was featured on BBC4 under the title 'Kew's Forgotten Queen'.
Reference
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READ: You can read (and/or download) her autobiography Recollections of a Happy Life online.
REFER: Papers relating to Marianne North are archived at Kew. There are two kinds:
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Other sources:
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Marianne North: A Very Intrepid Painter (Second Edition)
by Michelle Payne (Author)
by Michelle Payne (Author)
This is the second edition of the best-selling and highly rated book about Marianne North (published by Kew).
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It covers:
This revised edition has a foreword by Chris Mills, former Head of Kew’s Library, Art & Archives, as well as updated information. |
 
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Hardcover: 112 pages
Publisher: Kew Publishing (Second Edition) Publication date: 3 Feb 2016 Average Customer Rating out of 5 stars:
BUY THIS BOOK Marianne North: A Very Intrepid Painter. Second Edition.
from Amazon UK
Marianne North: A Very Intrepid Painter - Second Edition
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Marianne North Paintings - and the Online Gallery
She completed 848 paintings in 13 years, of which 832 were given to Kew Gardens in 1882.
The Kew website has an online gallery of digital versions of all the Marianne North Paintings
The Kew website has an online gallery of digital versions of all the Marianne North Paintings
- It's possible to compare places she painted with the same places today.
- The categories used for browsing the paintings illustrate the diversity of her subject matter and the countries she visited.
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Browse by category
Plants and gardensOther subjects |
NEW: Marianne North: The Kew Collection
This book is the first time ever that the complete collection of paintings by Marianne North have been produced in a book and published.
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The paintings are arranged geographically - as they are in the Marianne North Gallery.
This is a BIG and heavy book - I'd recommend sitting at a table or with the book resting on a cushion on your lap as otherwise it's awkward to read Productions values are good and the colours read well. |
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Kew Publishing Publication date: 26 Jun. 2018 Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 2.8 x 29.8 cm BUY THIS BOOK Marianne North: The Kew Collection
from Amazon UKMarianne North: The Kew Collection
 from Amazon.com |
Prints of Marianne North Paintings
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You can obtain prints of paintings by Marianne North from Kew Gardens Prints. There is a special gallery on their website.
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REFERENCE: Other places you can see images of her paintings online
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Her painting methods
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Marianne North's paintings are a surprise to anybody used to conventional botanical illustration associated with journeys of discovery.
Interestingly, most of the books about the history of botanical painting also ignore her paintings and contribution to the art. Maybe influenced by Wilfird Blunt who was NOT a fan - and at the same time appeared to ignore the conditions in which she was painting! |
Indefatigable alike as painter and traveller, she scoured the globe for spectacular plants which she painstakingly recorded in oils in their natural surroundings. Botanists consider her primarily as an artist; but artists will hardly agree, for her painting is almost wholly lacking in sensibility. ....Moreover her work, being painted in oils, is almost unaffected by light and remains perennially gaudy... |
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Art Education and Practice
She had no formal training in illustration. As a result her methods were unconventional. It's unclear whether she ignored more normal practices because she wasn't aware of them or because she preferred doing things her way. Her paintings clearly indicate that Marianne North had a both natural artistic talent and was very prolific. Producing over 800 paintings in 13+ years equates to some 60+ paintings per annum. Characteristic features
"I have never done anything else since, oil-painting being a vice like dram-drinking, almost impossible to leave off once it gets possession of one." A lot was learned about how Marianne North worked during the process of conserving her paintings. Tests were made of samples of the paint Technique
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Nepenthes northiana by Marianne North (named after her) Source: Wikimedia Commons
Conservation changes made by Kew
All the paintings received a detailed inspection prior to conservation:
In terms of restoring the paintings:
Marianne North in Mrs Cameron's house in Ceylon. Depicts Marianne North painting a Tamil boy. Albumen print, 277 x 236mm (10 7/8 x 9 1/4")
REFERENCE:
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The Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens
The Marianne North Gallery. It's next to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery and adjacent to Kew Road, inbetween the Victoria Gate and the Lion Gate into Kew Gardens.
Today the restored Gallery houses 832 of her paintings which depict over 900 species of plants.
It is the only permanent solo exhibition by a female artist in Britain
It is the only permanent solo exhibition by a female artist in Britain
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As might be expected of anybody who has taken the trouble to make so many paintings, she was keen to have them exhibited - and where better than Kew Gardens!
However if they were to be made available as a permanent exhibition they would need a Gallery to house them. The Donation In 1879, North offered to donate both her 832 paintings and to provide a building for them to be housed in - on condition that the gallery also served as a place where visitors to the Garden could rest. She catalogued her paintings but also had the assistance of the botanist W.B. Hemsley (1843-1924). He corrected identification of some plants and completed the task of identifying others. She also donated her time and effort in designing the interior and paintings murals and decorative features around the interior. |
The Design and Hang
The building was designed by a friend, the architectural historian James Fergusson. Given the colonial nature of much of her travels the style of the building echoes that of the colonial buildings of India. The building as constructed contained a Gallery, a single storey studio for the artist's use on one corner and on another, a two-storey 'flat', which Marianne North intended as accommodation for a resident gardener. It has a large verandah around the outside and some very comfortable seats which are very comfortable after a long walk round the gardens! There is also a lobby area - with information about the Gallery - outside the Main Gallery and the Inner Gallery. The Main Gallery is a double height room - and it's a very impressive room - not least because of the arrangement of the paintings. They are hung close together, with no space in-between, from the dado rail to the high level clerestory windows at the top of the double height wall. This means a room full of paintings is flooded with light. It's not what you expect when you walk in for the first time.... As you look more closely at the paintings, it becomes clear that all the paintings are organised according to geographical location. The arrangement is a mosaic worked out by Marianne North herself. |
Marianne North Gallery, in Kew Gardens, London. Interior shot taken before the gallery was closed for restoration. Source: Wikimedia Commons
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Development and Restoration
For many years, although very much an Institution within the Gardens, the Gallery was something of a backwater. However this changed when the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art was built next door and opened in 2008 - with a programme of changing exhibitions. The two buildings are now joined and Marianne North's Gallery gets a lot more visitors as a result. We now celebrate Marianne North's contribution not only as an artist and intrepid explorer but as one of Kew's first benefactors whose building and collections constitute an important piece of our heritage and a unique window on to the past. 
The Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Works to restore the Gallery were also implemented at the same time as the development of the new Shirley Sherwood Gallery. As most buildings do, time and weather had caused the building to deteriorate. It had suffered problems with water penetration which in turn was threatening the condition of the paintings.
In addition the unusual wall-to-ceiling framing system that Marianne North invented to display her works was also causing problems as the paintings were in direct context with the walls (paintings should usually have spacers attached so that there is space behind them) and this meant that were much more likely to soak up any moisture which penetrated the brickwork and plaster. Prior to the restoration, the Gallery was under threat of closure due to its condition. It needed a new roof and for the interior to be better weather proofed to protect the paintings. New state of the art environmental controls were also installed to help to maintain the paintings in the best possible condition for the future. The Gallery reopened to the public in October 2009. Kew Gardens raised funds for the scheme through
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Conservation of the Paintings
When the Gallery reopened in 2009, the paintings looked different. That was because the oil paintings were all treated to a visit to the new state-of-the-art Marianne North Conservation Studio, based in RBG Kew’s Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives. Facsimile prints were installed while paintings were being cleaned and conserved prior to their return to the Gallery. REFERENCE:
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Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Webb & Bower; Publication Date: 1st Edition 30 Aug. 1990 (it has since been reprinted) Marianne North at Kew Gardens
 at Amazon UK
Marianne North at Kew Gardens
 at Amazon.com |
More about Famous Botanical Artists of the Past
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