Marianne North | |
|---|---|
 North at her home in Ceylon before 1879. Photographed byJulia Margaret Cameron | |
| Born | (1830-10-24)24 October 1830 |
| Died | 30 August 1890(1890-08-30) (aged 59) Alderley, Gloucestershire, England |
| Parent(s) | Frederick North Janet Marjoribanks |
Marianne North (24 October 1830 – 30 August 1890) was an English Victorianbiologist andbotanical artist, known for her plant and landscape paintings, her extensive foreign travels, her writings, her plant discoveries and the creation of her gallery at theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
North was born inHastings, England, on 24 October 1830.[1] She was the eldest daughter of a prosperous land-owning family descended fromRoger North, younger son ofDudley North, 4th Baron North. Her father wasFrederick North, a NorfolkDeputy Lieutenant andJustice of the Peace, andLiberalM.P. for Hastings. Her mother, Janet, was the daughter ofSir John Marjoribanks M.P., 1st Baronet of Lees in the County of Berwick.[1] She was the eldest of three children.[2]
North trained as a vocalist underCharlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby, but her voice failed, and she then devoted herself to painting flowers. After the death of her mother in 1855, she constantly travelled with her father, who was then member of parliament forHastings; and on his death in 1869 she decided to pursue her early ambition of painting theflora of distant countries.[1]
She began flower painting after the death of her mother in 1855. The family had homes in Hastings and London in this period. Her interest in botany may have stemmed from her father's acquaintance with SirJoseph Dalton Hooker, director ofRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Her first watercolour landscapes were undertaken on a trip to Europe with her sister and father.[2]
After her sister married in 1864 and her father lost his seat in parliament, the two spent even more time travelling, visiting Switzerland and the South Tyrol.[2] They travelled inSyria and along the Nile in 1865–67. Her father became ill in the Alps in 1869, and she brought him back to Hastings, where he died. She continued to paint as a way to assuage her grief. After her father's death in 1869, she travelled and made paintings in Sicily.[2][3]
In 1871–1872, she travelled to Canada, the United States andJamaica, and spent a year inBrazil, where she did much of her work at a hut in the depths of a forest. North was encouraged to visit South America byFrederic Edwin Church, whom she considered "the greatest of living landscape painters" and whose home in New York,Olana, she visited twice.[4][5] In 1875, after a few months inTenerife, she began a journey round the world, and for two years painted the flora of California, Japan,Borneo,Java andCeylon. During her visits to California, she recorded her concern with the destruction of the redwoods.[6] She spent all of 1878 in various parts ofIndia.[1]
In 1878The Graphic reported an exhibition of Marianne North's works atKensington, in which 512 of her oil paintings were put on public display. In a long article, the critic praised North for "her freedom of hand, the purity and brilliancy of colour and the accurate draughtsmanship of a consummate artist".[7]
On her return to Britain, North exhibited a number of her drawings in London. She offered to give the collection to theRoyal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and to erect a gallery to house them. This offer was accepted, and the new buildings, designed byJames Fergusson, were begun that year.[1]
AtCharles Darwin's suggestion, North went to Australia in 1880, and for a year painted there and inNew Zealand.[8] On her return, she presented Darwin the shrub 'Australian Sheep' (Raoulia eximia) as a gift and showed him her Australian pictures.[8] Her paintings ofBanksia attenuata,B. grandis andB. robur were highly regarded.[9] Her gallery at Kew was opened in 1882. On display for the opening of the gallery were 800 oil on cardboard paintings, which represented twenty years of North's life and travels.[10]
In 1883, after a visit to South Africa, during which trip she called on the botanical artistKatharine Saunders, an additional room was opened at the Kew gallery, and in 1884–1885 North worked in theSeychelles and inChile. When ill-health curtailed her travelling she moved toAlderley, Gloucestershire[11] where she died on 30 August 1890[1] and is buried in the local churchyard.
The scientific accuracy with which she documented plant life in all parts of the world, before photography became a practical option, gives her work a permanent value.[12] Plant species named in her honour includeAreca northiana,Chassalia northiana,[13]Crinum northianum,Kniphofia northiae,Nepenthes northiana,[14] and the genus nameNorthia.
Kew Gardens claims that the North Gallery (situated in the east section of the gardens) is "the only permanent solo exhibition by a female artist in Britain". In 2008 Kew obtained a substantial grant from theNational Lottery, which enabled it to mount a major restoration of both the gallery and the paintings inside.
On 26 September 2016, the television channelBBC Four broadcastKew's Forgotten Queen. The documentary told the story of North's life.[15]
