Elizabeth Blachrie Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell, Botanical Illustrator

The eighteenth century proved to be the time for budding female botanists. Women were allowed to pursue the study of plants and encouraged in illustration, but any deeper interest such as, a professional career, in the actual science of the field was discouraged. It seems a natural evolution that women who have always been involved in herbal preparations for the sick in their homes would develop such an interest. Those who came from a wealthy family with an education would be the ones to push the boundaries. Elizabeth Blackwell would be one of those women.

Alice Hutchings, Gertrude Cope, Eleanor Morland

The Women of Kew – Workers

Marianne North (1830-1890) Marianne North is known at Kew for her botanical oil paintings. She traveled the globe twice, once in each direction, with a purpose. She intended to paint as many flowering tropical species as she could and any others she saw along the way. Her travels eventually made her sick and she died before the age of 60. Her collection of 832 oil paintings of over 900 species of plants, resides in a studio space in Kew Gallery that Marianne had constructed and paid for herself. Born in Hastings, England, to an aristocratic family, Marianne was educated as a gentlewoman. She had a fine singing voice and took music lessons. She could draw and paint well but did not receive any…

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The Women of Kew – Royalty

Kew Gardens in England is one of the world’s most renowned botanical gardens. Kew has a very long history and has seen and undergone many changes in its time. It is a place that has been farmed on, built upon, designed, land added to and removed, re-designed, re-built, over and over again by its various owners. It has been graced by the designs of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and others of equally great import and reputation. While men deservedly bear the majority of the honors there are many women in Kew’s history that deserve more recognition. I will present this in two parts. The list is long, so let us begin.

Madame de Pompadour

Why start with the Madame, you are thinking. Reasonable question of course. The Madame has been on my mind since a certain history class in high school. I had a wonderful teacher, a woman whose name is long forgotten, who taught me french and history. She gave details to people and events I could never have realized were so important. Like when Marie Antoinette was to be sent to the guillotine, the night before her hair turned white! Imagine what that says to a ten or eleven year old. One day she told us of  Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis the XV King of France. I am sure there was some important information said that day but all…

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Title page of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts

Black Women Writers of the 19th Century II

First part here: Black Women Writers of the 19th Century Black Women Writers Through Civil War and Reconstruction The nineteenth century was a formative period in African-American literary and cultural history. Law and practice forbade teaching blacks to read or write. Even after the American Civil War, many of the impediments to learning and literary productivity remained. Nevertheless, more African-Americans than we yet realize turned their observations, feelings, and creative impulses into poetry, short stories, histories, narratives, novels, and autobiographies. Harriet Wilson (1825-1900) Considered the first female African-American novelist, Harriet Wilson has also been called the first African-American of either gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. Her novel Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of…

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Mary Granville Pendarves Delany 1700-1788

“I have invented a new way of imitating flowers” (Mary Delany) I have come across the name Mary Delany twice in my research, usually in the field of botanical art. I thought her art interesting but perhaps not worth commenting on. Then I changed my mind. A new book on her life came into bookstores last year and that is where I stumbled upon The Paper Garden, Mrs. Delany {begins her life’s work} at 72, by Molly Peacock. Her life is simply fascinating. This book is well written and full of interesting tidbits; well worth reading. Along with The Paper Garden and other sources, I will tell you about Mrs. Mary Delany of London and hope that it tempts you to…

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The Ancient Egyptian garden

The Ancient Egyptian garden goes back to 2800 BC. It was formal in structure. Attached to the house was the portico, a covered porch that could be supported by pillars. The portico connected the house to the outdoors and the garden. In the center of the garden was a pool, either rectangular, oblong or T-shaped. Around the pool could be trees of fig, palm, sycamore, pomegranate, nut trees and jujube. Sometimes arbours of grapevines circled the outer edges of the garden. Flowers would be grown in beds or in pots lining walkways to the house. Flower beds tended to be in solid colours and contained cornflowers, poppies, papyrus, daisies, mandrakes, roses, irises, myrtle, jasmine, mignonettes, convolvulus, celosia, narcissus, ivy, lychnis,…

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A typical hortus conclusus

The Mary Garden

The Medieval period in Europe was an interesting but bumpy time for women. Women were viewed as the instrument of evil, an attitude encouraged by the church. They were subservient to men and led degraded lives. There existed anti-feminist literature and the fabliaux, which are rhymed verses that spoke of contempt for women and their deceit. In the early twelfth and thirteenth centuries this attitude began to change. Part was due to the introduction of the chivalric code of honour. The cult of chivalry, or courtly love, existed only among the nobility. The gentlewoman who looked for love or romance outside of marriage found it with the chivalric knight’s attention. Women of nobility enjoyed great attention, were deferred to and…

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Nur Jahan, Moghul Queen Part 2

“ …she erects very expensive buildings in all directions – sarais, or halting-places for travellers and merchants, and pleasure gardens and palaces such as no one has ever made before.” – Pelsaert The Mughal period in India was one where culture and the arts were of great importance to the royal family and the ruling classes below them. Nur Jahan was fortunate indeed to have lived in this time and to have been born to a wealthy and powerful family. She was skilled in two languages, was considered an accomplished poet, designed and created clothing and jewellery, an art lover and collector, and she is famously known for her prowess as a huntress, her horsemanship and long black hair. It…

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Nur Jahan, Moghul Queen – Part 1

Of all the women I have researched and written about so far,the story of Nur Jahan is the most complete, the most reasonably well documented, and plenty has been written about her. In the first part of this post I will focus on the life of Nur Jahan with reference to the gardens. From Wikipedia: The Mughal Empire or Mogul (also Moghul) Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power in the Indian subcontinent south (India Pakistan Bangladesh) and from about 1526 to 1757. The Mughal emperors were Muslims and direct descendants of Genghis Khan through Chagatai Khan and Timur. At the height of their power in the late 17th and early 18thcenturies, they controlled most of the subcontinent….

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