“Lilian Snelling (1879-1972) was probably the most important British botanical artist of the first half of the 20th century.” This bold statement was made by Brent Elliott, the long-standing Head Librarian and Historian for the Royal Horticultural Society, in an article for that society’s journal “The Garden” in July 2003.
This is especially surprising as very little is known about her until at the age of 36, she became the protégé of Henry John Elwes, a well-known English botanist and dendrologist, using her skills to draw plants from his extensive garden. At his recommendation, she spent five years at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, honing her skills. Her precise work from that time is the basis for the 2020 book “Lilian Snelling: the Rhododendron and Primula Drawings” by Henry J. Noltie.
Snelling’s illustrations can also be found in the monograph on the genus Lilium by Elwes. Although the Miller Library does not have this book, her illustrations have been reproduced in other books on lilies in the collection. She also produced the exquisite color plates and drawings for “A Study of the Genus Paeonia” by Frederick Claude Stern (1946), including this illustration of Paeonia tenuifolia.
Snelling was appointed as an artist for “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” and for 30 years was the principal artist. She also was a skilled lithographer, being able to transfer her work and those of others to zinc plates for reproduction. Upon her retirement, the November 1952 volume of “Curtis’s” was dedicated to her. The dedication describes how she “with remarkable delicacy of accurate outlines, brilliancy of colour, and intricate gradation of tone has faithfully portrayed most of the plants figured in this magazine from 1922 to 1952.”
Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on November 21, 2023
Excerpted from the Winter 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin