Isaac Sprague (September 5, 1811 - 1895) was a self-taught landscape, botanical, and ornithological painter. He was America's best known botanical illustrator

Botanical illustrator

A botanical illustrator is a person who paints, sketches or otherwise illustrates botanical subjects such as trees and flowers. The job requires great artistic skill, attention to fine detail, and technical botanical knowledge...

 of his day.

Sprague was born in Hingham, Massachusetts

Hingham, Massachusetts

Hingham is a town in northern Plymouth County on the South Shore of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and suburb in Greater Boston. The United States Census Bureau 2008 estimated population was 22,561...

 and apprenticed with his uncle as a carriage painter.

In 1843, Sprague served as an assistant to John James Audubon

John James Audubon

John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats...

 on an ornithological expedition up the Missouri River

Missouri River

The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

, taking measurements and making sketches. Young Sprague first met Audubon when the older man admired Sprague's bird drawings in 1840. His diary of this expedition is in the Boston Athenaeum. Sprague's Pipit

Sprague's Pipit

Sprague's Pipit is a small passerine bird that breeds in the short and mixed-grass prairies of North America and overwinters in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Easiest to identify by the distinctive descending call that is delivered in the breeding season from a considerable...

 (Anthus spragueii), an uncommon and inconspicuous bird, was discovered on that expedition and named for Sprague. Some of Sprague's fine drawings were incorporated into Audubon's later publications, without credit.

In 1844 Sprague met Asa Gray

Asa Gray

-References:*Asa Gray. Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.*Asa Gray. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.*Asa Gray. Plant Sciences. 4 vols. Macmillan Reference USA, 2001....

 (1810–1888) of Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

, and over many years illustrated several of his works including the plates for the atlas (1857) to Gray’s "Botany. Phanerogamia" in Charles Wilkes' United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 (1845–1876). He also illustrated Asa Gray and John Torrey's various volumes of the U. S. War Departments Reports... (1855–1860), as well as works for George B. Emerson, George Goodale, and Alpheus Baker Hervey.

In 1960 Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

's Houghton Library exhibited approximately 100 of Sprague’s paintings, drawings and illustrations. In 2003 Sprague's works were included in the Hunt Institute’s exhibition American Botanical Prints of Two Centuries.

Major collections of Sprague's work are held by the Boston Atheneum, the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Smithsonian Institution (on indefinite loan to the Hunt Institute for Botanical Verification, Carnegie Mellon University), and by Harvard University.

Selected illustrations

• 1842 Botanical Text-book by Asa Gray
  Asa Gray
  -References:*Asa Gray. Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.*Asa Gray. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.*Asa Gray. Plant Sciences. 4 vols. Macmillan Reference USA, 2001....
  
  
• 1856 Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States by Asa Gray, ed. 2
• 1848 White Mountain Scenery by William Oakes
• 1848-1849 Genera Florae Americae Boreali-Orientalis by Asa Gray
• 1855-1860 Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, U. S. War Department
• 1875 Report on the Trees and Shrubs Growing Naturally in the Forests of Massachusetts, George B. Emerson, ed. 2
• 1876-1882 Wild Flowers of America by George Goodale
• 1882 Beautiful Wild Flowers of America by Alpheus Baker Hervey
• 1883 Flowers of Field and Forest by Alpheus Baker Hervey
• 1883 Wayside Flowers and Ferns by Alpheus Baker Hervey