The Frampton Flora - Hardcover

Richard Mabey

4

14 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 190520468X ISBN 13: 9781905204687

Publisher: Quercus, 2007

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

"The Frampton Flora" documents a beautiful collection of Victorian botanical paintings discovered in the attic of Frampton Court in Gloucestershire over a century after they were created. First published over twenty years ago, this revised, redesigned and updated edition of a classic bestseller includes new paintings that have come to light since the original discovery. Between 1828 and 1851 sisters Elizabeth, Charlotte, Catherine and Mary Anne Clifford and their aunts Charlotte Annne, Catherine Elizabeth and Rosamond accumulated a portfolio of over 300 exquisite watercolours of the wild flowers of Frampton and the surrounding area. The paintings are bold, exactly observed, and beautifully and skilfully executed. Although many of the flowers were sketched in the field, the watercolours were perfected at home and captioned in ink with the plant's Linnaean family as well as their common names. Richard Mabey describes not only the paintings and the family, but relates their work to the rich flora of the woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, gardens and fields of England in the mid-nineteenth century.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Richard Mabey is a naturalist and author. Since 1988, he has written a regular column for BBC Wildlife Magazine, and is on their advisory board. He also writes for The Sunday Times, The Times, The Sunday Telegraph and The Countryman. He is the author of over 30 books on the countryside, including the award-winning Flora Britannica, Birds Britannica and Nature Cure.

From Publishers Weekly:

Rousseau wrote that "the study of nature abates the taste for frivolous amusements, prevents the tumult of passions and provides the mind with a nourishment which is salutary," and, indeed, the genteel art of botanical drawing was a prevalent pastime among Victorian "ladies" of leisure. The collaborative efforts of two generations of Victorian women comprise this accomplished collection of flower paintings recently discovered in the attic of the Clifford family estate, Frampton Court, in Gloucestershire, England. British nature writer Mabey keenly suggests that the assortment of "humdrum" flowers from the environs of Frampton and more exotic blooms found in the wilder countryside reflects the peculiarly Victorian ambivalence toward the "twin passions of domesticity and expansiveness." While the pieces here are skillfully executed, the handiwork of Charlotte Anne Purnell and Rosamond Clifford is distinguished by a luminous texture and sophisticated sense of design. The paintings are grouped by locale, invoking a sense of the women having constructed a " 'permanent geography' of their ancestral territory." The assiduously studied, delicately restrained flowers provide a telling account not only of the flora of a lost age, but of the refined industriousness of their portraitists.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.