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TulipsWe have some 30,000 original botanical illustrations, and oil portraits.

The earliest drawings date from the early 17th century, with comprehensive examples of work by eminent artists including contemporary RHS Gold medal winners. Highlights include a volume of drawings by Pieter van Kouwenhoorn (fl. 1630s), with illustrations of tulips (see left).

Exhibitions from the RHS Art Collections

View some fine pieces from the RHS contemporary botanical art collections in an exhibition at Fulham Palace and in a major botanical art exhibition at the RHS Halls (London), alongside the RHS London Orchid Show this spring.

 The Gold Standard exhibition at Fulham Palace, London runs until April 12.

Botanical illustrations

Our drawings include primarily botanical illustrations, focusing on the depiction of garden varieties or cultivars, rather than species.

Botanical illustration needs the highest level of accuracy, so they may be used for identification. This makes the collection unique in the UK and internationally. As cultivars are more fugitive than species, these drawings are often our best means of ascertaining what now vanished cultivars actually looked like.

Over the past 400 years approaches to the depiction of plants has altered according to latest scientific understanding, the sponsor or patron’s request and the intended audience. These variations can be seen in the stylistic manner adopted by artists from all over the world, represented in our drawings collection.

RHS botanical art exhibitions

 

Orchid drawings

We have a collection of more than 7,000 drawings depicting award-winning orchid cultivars. It began in 1897, when Nellie Roberts, the RHS’s first orchid artist was commissioned, with the aim that every orchid awarded a prize at RHS shows should have its portrait painted.

This is the most comprehensive collection of portraits of orchid hybrids in existence and regularly consulted by the RHS Orchid Committee.

The RHS is the International Registration Authority for Orchids and the RHS Orchid Database includes scanned reference images of portraits up to 1999.

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