Flora Indica: Recovering Lost Stories From Kew's Indian Drawings
Henry Noltie
‘An art historical triumph, a complete reimagining of the world of the artists: the world they came from, the often oppressive structures they lived in, the extraordinary work they produced, and their remarkable legacy, bringing together a variety of different Indian traditions of draughtsmanship and artistic creativity, but brought into the service of Enlightenment-era European science.’ Willam Dalrymple
A selection from Kew’s collection of Indian botanical art is brought together here for the first time, with some of the remarkable stories they can tell – of the artists who painted them, the colonial context in which they were made, and their role in the development of botanical knowledge. Author Henry Noltie explores the work of twenty Indian artists from the previously fractured, uncatalogued, and largely inaccessible collection of over 7,000 Indian illustrations in Kew’s archives, showcasing over 100 exquisite watercolours in this celebration of Indian botanical art.
For thirty years Henry Noltie worked at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as a taxonomist, curator, and historian of its Indian collections, especially the botanical drawings made by Indian artists for Scottish East India Company surgeons.
He is a Research Associate of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Natural History Museum, London.
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