Flora's Jewels - The Art of the Botanical Book: Lisa visits this exhibition at Carrick Hill in the Adelaide City region of South Australia
Today sail trainees aboard the One & All follow in the wake of navigators Matthew Flinders and Nicholas Baudin, who - in their respective ships The Investigator and Le Geographe, mapped the South Australian coastline. And when these young would-be sailors head to shore at places like Memory Cove on the tip of Eyre Peninsula they follow in the footsteps of not only great navigators, but also the naturalists and artists who accompanied them to collect and record the mysteries of this unknown coast.
The depictions of native flora and fauna made by Englishman Ferdinand Bauer are part of a long tradition of botanical exploration as the plant collectors went about their work.
At Carrick Hill, thirty rare and sumptuous plant portraits - drawn from books and prints from the 15th to the 20th century adorn the walls of the estate once owned by the late Adelaide businessmen and philanthropist Sir Edward Hayward.
The exhibition is 'Flora's Jewels - the Art of the Botanical Book'. There are only 18 of the books in the world and we're lucky enough to have one here. It's on loan from the State Library of Victoria along with Renaissance lithographs highlighting the medicinal qualities of certain plants.
It's been said a flower painter fails if the work lacks beauty and the botanical artist fails if it lacks accuracy. French artist Pierre Joseph Redoutte has succeeded in both, in a work created for his friend the famous writer Balzac.
"This was painted in the early 1800s and named after Bonarparte's wife, the Empress Josephine," explained Lowen Patridge of Carrick Hill Estate. "So Redoute was pretty savvy. Before the French Revolution he was in fact Marie Antionette's court painter.
The art works on display at Carick Hill capture the fascination, the plant gatherers and the artists who followed them, had for the floral mysteries brought back from the new world to the old.
"It was a very exciting time, the kind of exploration through the world at that time and they were collecting animals and plants. Plants were really important for the economy so the explorers were looking for plants that were going to make them money. The Spice Islands are a classic example of that."
Flora's Jewels - The Art of the Botanical Book is on show at Carrick Hill. It's being held in conjunction with another exhibition at the Botanic Gardens, entitled Temple of Flora - Stories of Botanical Exploration. Both exhibitions end on February 25th next year. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Flora's Jewels - The Art of the Botanical Book
Carrick Hill Estate
Until February 25th, 2007Published 19th November 2006
