She often hears the phrase "botanical", such as botanical shampoo, these days.

Also, the fashionable illustrations that are often used in cosmetic packaging that sells naturally derived products

It is called "botanical art".

So this time while chasing the woman Matilda who continued to draw botanical art

Let's also consider botanical art.

About Matilda Smith

Matilda was born in Bombay, India and moved to England with her family during her childhood.

Her cousin Hooker is a botanist and Matilda was influenced by him to increase her interest in her botanicals and botanical illustrations.

Later, Matilda is hired in the botanical garden to train her botanical illustrator.

In 1787 William Curtis launched the Curtis Botanical Magazine, a botanical magazine.

She Conflicts about her rewards with Walter Fitch, who until then she was drawing plates

She took over Matilda's job when Fitch quit her job in Botanical Magazine in 1877.

She painted about 20 botanical illustrations in each issue between 1879 and 1881.

By 1887, almost all the plates were drawn by Matilda.

She became the second woman in 1921

The oldest natural history association in the world in London, England

She was elected a member of the Linnean Society of London.

Bombay, India in the 19th century

With the liberalization of British trade with India

Due to the influx of mechanical cotton fabrics from England into India

India's traditional cotton textile industry has been hit and closed

The introduction of a more modern land tax system has put the Indian people in distress.

Against this background, the First Indian Rebellion of Independence occurred in 1857.

Britain has crushed this thoroughly.

1858 Britain completely destroys the Mughal Empire and puts India under direct control

In 1877, the British Indian Empire was established, in which the Queen of England also served as Emperor of India.

Britain dominates India from a distant home

She firmly believes in the superiority of European civilization

She introduced British institutions and cultures such as scholarship, arts and arts to India as much as possible.

She established the colonial system of India.

And India was incorporated into the British capitalist market

It has become a market raw material production area for British products.

Pronunciation from Bombay to Mumbai

There are many names of Indian cities that were given during the British colonial era.

Indian government has Bombay and Madras

The official names have been changed to Mumbai and Chennai respectively.

Former Burma in Myanmar

The capital, Rangoon, has changed to Yangon

Because we are in the flow of the times

It may be inevitable that we will change as the times change.

Female painter at that time

In the 19th century, the world was undergoing a major social change

It also greatly influenced the lives of women living on both continents across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Industrial Revolution increases the middle class between the upper classes such as aristocrats and monks and the lower classes such as workers

The acquisition of women's right to vote and the transformation into educational reform have brought freedom and liberation to women.

However, at the same time, for middle-class women who have newly gained power

Family-centered and happy to get married and become a mother

That is a barometer of happiness

As a woman, training for brides has become an education.

Whether it's Paris, Boston, London, New York

Victorian women were in fashion.

For female artists

The tendency for women to find their identity in the home

It will become an element that will be forced to take great care by the world.

In society at that time, there was a lot of harassment by men who denied women's activities.

Under such circumstances, the women thought about dressing as a man with legal permission.

That's how women avoid the danger of acting alone in public.

By this method of men's clothing

Women are finally free to go out of the home and study.

From realism to impressionism

Academic with the development of Impressionism from the latter half of the 19th century

Realistic paintings that express reality as it is are denied.

Instead

Modern city life, middle class leisure, family life,

Or not only the momentary light, but also the people who gather in theaters and cafes

The genre paintings that depict how it changes over time with light and color have become popular.

Their work, which depicts little girls, girls, mothers, women, etc., was innovative at the time.

Even in the United States, in the latter half of the 19th century, many female painters

I will begin to draw family life as a formal subject.

Botanical art

What is botanical?

Botanical means "botanical".

So botanical art refers to "botanical painting".

4 promises

Botanical art has four promises.

1 Draw in full size

2 Do not draw the background

3 Do not draw artificial objects (flowerpots, vases, etc.)

4 And the most important promise is not to change the characteristics of the plant

That is.

Botanical art

I've heard the word botanical art a lot lately

It's not a word that has begun to be said recently.

Its origins date back to ancient Greece.

In ancient Egypt and China, paintings of plants were started to distinguish medicinal herbs.

The "Drug Magazine" written by Greek army surgeon Dioscrides in the first century AD

It is a famous book that was regarded as a scripture of doctors until the 18th century when botany was born.

Of course, there were no figures at that time, but later on, plates were added.

In the Middle Ages when the influence of Christianity was great, lilies and roses

Botanical illustrations that iconographic the specific meaning of the Bible

Many legends related to medicinal herbs will be born.

"Mandragora" that appeared in "Harry Potter" is one of them.

In addition, there are the magical "sage" of love and the aphrodisiac "sanshikisumire".

Medieval "floras" are often made with gorgeous Illuminated Manuscripts

It seems that there are many things with a strong Christianity.

In the Renaissance period

With thorough realism, every detail will be drawn in detail.

In the Age of Discovery in the 16th century

I went into the hinterland in search of a rare plant that I had never seen.

Because it was an era when there was no technical method such as development yet

Botanist and painter team up

Botanically correct and detailed paintings were sent to my home country one after another.

Because those paintings are so detailed, beautiful and wonderful

Botanical art was all the rage in the 19th century, mainly in England and France.

Then, with the development of botany, the recognition increased and the demand for botanical illustrations increased.

European powers such as France, England, and Rome

Focus on collecting plants from all over the world

Technologies such as breeding will continue to develop.

After that, through the improvement of letterpress printing technology and the Industrial Revolution

Botanical art is in high demand among citizens

The number of plant lovers gradually increased.

In modern times, painters who pursue more artistry rather than academic botanical illustrations until the 19th century

The number of lovers of botanical art, which he draws as a hobby, has increased.

Nowadays, it is well-established and loved as a picture of the interior of hotels and restaurants.

In Japan, plants were also drawn in a plane,

Three-dimensional drawing appears in the botanical illustration class at the University of Tokyo around the beginning of the Meiji era.

But the picture is not yet common

It was only about 20 years ago that it was firmly established as a genre of painting.

And recently, there has been a small boom with nature-oriented trends.

Botanical art is still not widely known in general.

Japan Botanical Art Association was established in 1970

From the following year, the exhibition "Japan Botanical Art Exhibition" of raw botanical illustrations that are not printed matter

It is held every year mainly in Tokyo.

The faithfully drawn botanical illustration

The more you see it, the more you will be inhaled and breathtaking.

Become familiar with botanical illustrations through this exhibition

It seems that the new field of painting called botanical art is gradually expanding.

Thinking about the circumstances of a female painter in the 19th century from Matilda

From there, the times began to tilt little by little, from realism to Impressionism.

Realism and botany combine to advance to botanical art

And the chain that leads to the packaging design of modern cosmetics

It's kind of strange and interesting.