Watercolors from the Highgrove Florilegium

This exhibition includes a selection of 40 limited edition reproductions of original watercolor drawings. In the year 2000, a project was begun to paint all the 120 odd species of plants in Highgrove Garden in Tetbury Upton, United Kingdom. Highgrove House and Gardens is a private residence of Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

The art of depicting plants, as a means of identifying species for medicinal purposes, goes back some 2000 years and continues to this day as the preferred medium to illustrate new species. While the height of botanical art was from the 1740’s to the 1840’s and coincides with the great voyages of discovery, there is today what has been described as a modern renaissance of botanical painting. More than 70 artists, from the United Kingdom and abroad, participated in the Highgrove Floriligeum creating 124 paintings in total.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website