Her motivations for travel were purely to seek out and paint the native flora and fauna of the various countries she visited. Some of the plants she painted were new to science, and as a result one genus and four species were named in her honour.
Aged 55, Marianne North came home for good. She settled in Gloucestershire, designed a beautiful garden, saw her Kew Gardens Gallery through to fruition and wrote her extensive biography. She died on August 30th 1890.
That she achieved her single-minded, painterly and scientific ambitions with breathtaking results is evident to any visitor who walks through the doors of the refurbished Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens.
Further Information:
For more information about The Marianne North Gallery at Kew, why not visit their website. It will give more details about this beautiful space, as well as opening times, etc. You can find their website here.
Sources:
- [1] Quoted by Dea Birkett, “A Victorian Painter of Exotic Flora”, New York Times November 22nd, 1992 and cited in “Introduction” by Susan Morgan to Recollections of a happy life: being the autobiography of Marianne North by Marianne North (The University Press of Virginia, 1993).
- [2] Morgan, op.cit
- [3] "Marianne and Kew" article on Kew Gardens’ Marianne North Gallery website.
Comments
Yes that gallery is beautiful. I think I might take myself off to Kew there this autumn - never been at this time of the year.
There's always something surprising to find about any subject I guess! Even Neruda appreciated the humble vegetable! Lovely post, thanks Tolovaj! :)
Looks like very unusual but still exciting possibility to spend few interesting hours. I have just read few similarly surprising poems by Neruda. Who would think poetry about vegetables can be so exciting? I hope I'll get a chance to see work of Ms North's work one day!
Yes - she was pretty special, and she had a wonderfully fulfilling life. Thanks for your post!
What an amazing lady, and such beautiful paintings too!