Drawn From Nature – The Flowering of Irish Botanical Art
Dates
05/10/2024 - 05/10/2024
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location
Farmleigh House and Gardens
This talk will track the distinguished contributions of Irish botanical artists, including
records of plants from 17th century Ireland, early illustrated floras, and botanical art found in the field of design. It will also cover the importance of botanical art to the Ordnance Survey of Ireland during the 19th century, as well as the vital plant portraits produced by Irish women. The latter assisted generations of botanists in understanding and describing the natural world but received scant recognition.
Lavishly illustrated throughout, outstanding examples of Irish botanical art will also be shown, drawn from both public and private collections, demonstrating how botanical artists observe, illuminate and record Ireland’s unique and outstanding flora.
Patricia Butler, author, art historian, curator and lecturer, was born in Dublin and was educated at Alexandra School and College, Trinity College, and University College, Dublin. She was awarded the Purser Griffith Travelling Scholarship in the History of European Painting.
Author of ten books relating to Irish art, including Three Hundred Years of Irish Watercolours and Drawings, which was heralded by The Irish Times as ‘Book of the Year’, and Irish Botanical Illustrators & Flower Painters, which gained for her a major pre-publication award in the 1999 CINOA International Art History Prize.
Other publications include The Silent Companion: an Illustrated History of the Water Colour Society of Ireland (2010) and Wicklow Through the Artist’s Eye (2014). She has also contributed a number of articles to publications such as The Encyclopaedia of Ireland and the Irish Arts Review.
In 2020, Patricia was invited by the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) to act as guest curator for the exhibition Drawn from Nature: Irish Botanical Art, which was based on her Irish Botanical Illustrators & Flower Painters book. She has worked in both public and private art galleries and is a member of the NGI fellowship board and a director of the York Conservation Trust. Patricia lives, works and gardens in Co. Wicklow.
This talk is presented as part of the OPW’s 2024 Cultural Programme at Farmleigh House
Getting Here
Located 5km from Centre of Dublin, in the Phoenix Park.
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