A photograph of Marianne North at her easel, by Aldham & Aldham, engraved by T. Bailey, 1883 © National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG D42434).
In his brief preface to the Catalogue of the Marianne North Gallery at Kew, Joseph D. Hooker, then Director of Kew Gardens and a friend of the artist, stated that the vast majority of her works "represent vividly and truthfully scenes of astonishing interest and singularity, and objects that are amongst the wonders of the vegetable kingdom." These, Hooker went on to suggest, had special value because they were either "already disappearing or are doomed shortly to disappear before the axe and the forest fires, the plough and the flock, of the ever advancing settler or colonist." Hooker saw North's work as a priceless record of such scenes before they they were lost. He said little about her skill as an artist, except when concluding that posterity "will thus have even more reason to be grateful for her fortitude as a traveller, her talent and industry as an artist, and her liberality and public-spirit" (v-vi).<.p>
Although far outnumbered by these botanically themed works, the fifty or so local or landscape views in the Marianne North Collection at the British Library should also be remembered. Described in its catalogue as "Genre: Painting," these are discussed on the library's website by Malini Roy as "topographical views" and "street scenes." These might help with the strange difficulty that some have in deciding whether her work should be classified "as either art or science" (Dowe 15).
Paintings of Flowers
- A Medley of Flowers from Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope
- Pendulous Sparaxis and Long-Tailed Finch in Van Staaden's Kloof
- A Clearing in the Forest of Tji Boddas, Java, with Bank of Tree Ferns
- West Australian Vegetation
Paintings of Places
- Entrance to the Cave of Karlee (Karli), Maharashtra
- View of Kinchinjunga from Tonglo
- Cook Nimbra, Queensland, Australia
Miscellaneous
Bibliography
Dowe, John Leslie. “Marianne North’s Paintings of Australian Gardens, 1880–81.” Australian Garden History 30, no. 1 (2018): 12–15. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26780344.
Hooker, Joseph D. Preface. The Gallery of Marianne North's Paintings of Plants and Their Homes, Royal Gardens. Kew. Descriptive Catalogue Designed by W. Botting Helmsley, ALS. London: 1882. v-vi. Google Books. Free to read.
Huxley, Anthony. Introduction. A Vision of Eden: The Life and Work of Marianne North. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980. 9-13.
Lambourne, Lionel. Victorian Painting. London and New York: Phaidon, 1999.
Lyons, Nancy. "Marianne North in India: travels of a pioneering Victorian artist." Art UK. Web. 27 August 2023.
McHale, Ellen. "Things You Should Know about Marianne North." website">Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. Web: https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/marianne-north-botanical-artist. 26 August 2023.
Middleton, Dorothy. Victorian Lady Travellers. New York: Dutton, 1965.
North, Marianne. Recollections of a Happy Life: being the autobiography of Marianne North. Vol. I. London and New York, Macmillan, 1893. Internet Archive, from a copy of a book in the Wellcome Library. Web. 26 August 2023.
North, Marianne. Recollections of a Happy Life: being the autobiography of Marianne North. Vol. II. London and New York, Macmillan, 1893. Internet Archive, from a copy of a book in the Wellcome Library. Web. 26 August 2023.
Roy, Malini. " Marianne North's Visions of India." British Library. Web. 26 August 2023.
Created 27 August 2023