Botanical Art from India

Commissioned as scientific illustrations between 1770 and 1860, these exquisite paintings are here recognised for their artistic value, alongside the story of the collections and the scientists who first recorded the flora of the country. The book celebrates the scientific and artistic heritage of India in the 70th anniversay year of independence.

---

The links between the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and India go back for two and a half centuries. Surgeons who had studied botany at the Garden laid the foundations of western knowledge of the Indian flora. Supplementing their written plant descriptions with botanical drawings, commissioned from Indian artists, they established collections which survive today at Edinburgh, the Natural History Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This book tells the story of these collections, reproducing a selection of 86 exquisite, original drawings – including examples made in all three of the Presidencies (administrative units) of British India (Bombay, Bengal and Madras), between 1770 and 1860.