Simon Taylor | 38 original watercolour drawings of flowers at Kew, late 18th century, red morocco gilt

Simon Taylor

A collection of 38 original watercolour drawings of flowers at Kew, volume 13. [Late eighteenth century]

Folio (607 x 450mm.), watercolours on vellum with the Linnean binomial written below, contemporary red morocco gilt with arms of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, occasional light spotting, a few sheets of vellum coming loose from paper backing, small scratches to covers, some wear and scuffs to spine

Simon Taylor (1742-1796) trained at The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and his style as a botanical artist was similar to Ehret's. He had a number of significant patrons throughout his successful career, including Margaret Cavendish Harley, Duchess of Portland, John Fothergill, John Ellis and Ralph Willett of Merly, as well as John Stuart, Earl of Bute (1713-1792). Bute was a prolific naturalist who played a vital role in the foundation of Kew Gardens, hence his interest in this extensive record of the plants grown there. His botanical interests led to his friend George III appointing him Ranger of Richmond Park, and he published Botanical Tables Containing the Families of British Plants in 1785.

This work was originally part of a set of fifteen volumes, comprising 684 drawings on vellum, of the plants at Kew, uniformly bound in red morocco gilt with the arms of the Earl of Bute. The provenance of these volumes can be traced to the May 1794 Leigh and Sotheby auction of Lord Bute’s botanical library. A portion of this collection of drawings by Taylor now reside in the collection at Kew Gardens, and further drawings are in the collection of the Natural History Museum and in the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society.

LITERATURE:

W.L. Tjaden, "Drawings at Kew by Simon Taylor", Kew Bulletin 26 (1971), 167-169

PROVENANCE:

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, K.G., P.C., F.S.A. (1712-1792): His executor's sale of the Bute library, Leigh and Sotheby, 8 May 1794, lot 1246