Matilda Smith
Encyclopedia
Matilda Smith was a botanical illustrator whose work appeared in Curtis's Botanical Magazine
for over forty years.
The long running journal required a dedicated illustrator, and when Joseph Hooker
sought a replacement, his second cousin Matilda Smith was inducted to become Kew's Botanical illustrator
. She learned the craft that her immediate predecessor had described as ‘the analysis of a dried flower, from an herbarium specimen, perhaps very small, worm-eaten and gluey, and having no apparent analogy to any known plant.’
Smith was to become first official botanical artist of the leading authority, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Between 1878 and 1923, Smith drew over 2,300 plates for the Curtis's and other publications. She also made reproductions for the library of the institution, which were added to the incomplete works held there.
Associate of the Linnean Society (1921), the second woman to have been appointed there. Plant genera, Smithiantha and Smithiella, were named in her honour.
Curtis's Botanical Magazine
The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name Curtis's Botanical Magazine....
for over forty years.
The long running journal required a dedicated illustrator, and when Joseph Hooker
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
sought a replacement, his second cousin Matilda Smith was inducted to become Kew's 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...
. She learned the craft that her immediate predecessor had described as ‘the analysis of a dried flower, from an herbarium specimen, perhaps very small, worm-eaten and gluey, and having no apparent analogy to any known plant.’
Smith was to become first official botanical artist of the leading authority, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Between 1878 and 1923, Smith drew over 2,300 plates for the Curtis's and other publications. She also made reproductions for the library of the institution, which were added to the incomplete works held there.
Associate of the Linnean Society (1921), the second woman to have been appointed there. Plant genera, Smithiantha and Smithiella, were named in her honour.