Marianne North
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and botanical artist
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...
Life with her parents
Marianne North was born at HastingsHastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
, the eldest daughter of a prosperous land-owning family descended from the Hon. Roger North
Roger North (17th century)
Roger North, KC , English lawyer, biographer, and amateur musician, was the sixth son of t he fourth Baron North....
, younger son of Dudley North, 4th Baron North
Dudley North, 4th Baron North
Dudley North, 4th Baron North K.B. was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1660.-Life:...
. Her father was Frederick North, a Norfolk Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
and Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, and Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
M.P. for Hastings
Hastings (UK Parliament constituency)
Hastings was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 1885 general election, when its representation was reduced to one member....
. Her mother, Janet, was the daughter of Sir John Marjoribanks M.P.
Marjoribanks Baronets
There have been two Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Marjoribanks, both in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Both creations are extinct....
, 1st Baronet of Lees in the County of Berwick.
She trained as a vocalist under Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby
Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby
Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby , was an English contralto.She was born in London, studied at the Royal Academy of Music from 1832 to 1837, Crivelli being her principal singing-master. In 1837 she was elected to a King's scholarship, and first appeared at a Philharmonic concert in 1841...
, 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
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
; and on his death in 1869 she decided to pursue her early ambition of painting the flora of distant countries.
Travel and work
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, and spent a year in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where she did much of her work at a hut in the depths of a forest. In 1875, after a few months in Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
, she began a journey round the world, and for two years painted the flora of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, Java and Ceylon. She spent 1878 in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
On her return to Britain she exhibited a number of her drawings in London. She offered to give the collection to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to as Kew Gardens, is 121 hectares of gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. "The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew" and the brand name "Kew" are also used as umbrella terms for the institution that runs...
, and to erect a gallery to house them. This offer was accepted, and the new buildings, designed by James Fergusson
James Fergusson (architect)
James Fergusson , was a Scottish writer on architecture.-Life:Fergusson was born at Ayr, the son of William Fergusson an army surgeon. After being educated first at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, and then at a private school in Hounslow, he went to Calcutta as a partner in a mercantile house...
, were begun that year.
At Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's suggestion she went to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1880, and for a year painted there and in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Her paintings of Banksia attenuata
Banksia attenuata
Banksia attenuata, commonly known as the candlestick banksia or slender banksia, is a species of plant in the proteaceae family. Commonly a tree, it reaches 10 m high, but is often a shrub in dryer areas 0.4 to 2 m high...
, B. grandis
Banksia grandis
Banksia grandis, commonly known as Bull Banksia, Giant Banksia or Mangite, is a common and distinctive tree in South West Western Australia....
and B. robur
Banksia robur
Banksia robur, commonly known as Swamp Banksia or, less commonly, Broad-leaved Banksia grows in sand or peaty sand in coastal areas from Cooktown in north Queensland to the Illawarra region on the New South Wales south coast...
were highly regarded., Her gallery at Kew was opened in 1882. In 1883, after a visit by her to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, an additional room was opened at the Kew gallery, and in 1884-1885 she worked at Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
and in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. She died at Alderly in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
on 30 August 1890.
Legacy
The scientific accuracy with which she documented plant life in all parts of the world, before photographyPhotography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
became a practical option, gives her work a permanent value. A number of plant species are named in her honour, including Areca northiana, Crinum northianum, Kniphofia northiana, Nepenthes northiana
Nepenthes northiana
Nepenthes northiana , or Miss North's Pitcher-Plant, is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to Borneo, where it grows at elevations ranging from 0 to 500 m above sea level. The specific epithet northiana honours Marianne North, who first illustrated the species...
, and the genus name Northia
Northia
Northia is a genus of plant in family Sapotaceae.The name was first published by Joseph Dalton Hooker, in Hooker's Icones Plantarum , in his description of Northia seychellana. The spelling was given as Northia on the plate, but the variant Northea in the text...
.
Kew Gardens claims that the North Gallery (confusingly, 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 the National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
, which enabled it to mount a major restoration of both the gallery and the paintings inside.