{"id":16571,"date":"2025-07-28T16:05:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/?post_type=book&p=16571"},"modified":"2025-07-28T16:08:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:08:25","slug":"a-study-of-the-genus-paeonia","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/book\/a-study-of-the-genus-paeonia\/","title":{"rendered":"A Study of the Genus Paeonia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLilian Snelling (1879-1972) was probably the most important British botanical artist of the first half of the 20th<\/sup> century.\u201d\u00a0 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\u2019s journal \u201cThe Garden<\/a>\u201d in July 2003.<\/p>\n

This is especially surprising as very little is known about her until at the age of 36, she became the prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Henry John Elwes, a well-known English botanist and dendrologist, using her skills to draw plants from his extensive garden.\u00a0 At his recommendation, she spent five years at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, honing her skills.\u00a0 Her precise work from that time is the basis for the 2020 book \u201cLilian Snelling: the Rhododendron and Primula Drawings<\/a>\u201d by Henry J. Noltie.<\/p>\n

\"\"Snelling\u2019s illustrations can also be found in the monograph on the genus Lilium<\/em> by Elwes.\u00a0 Although the Miller Library does not have this book, her illustrations have been reproduced in other books on lilies in the collection.\u00a0 She also produced the exquisite color plates and drawings for \u201cA Study of the Genus Paeonia\u201d by Frederick Claude Stern (1946), including this illustration of Paeonia tenuifolia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Snelling was appointed as an artist for \u201cCurtis\u2019s Botanical Magazine<\/a>\u201d and for 30 years was the principal artist.\u00a0 She also was a skilled lithographer, being able to transfer her work and those of others to zinc plates for reproduction.\u00a0 Upon her retirement, the November 1952 volume of \u201cCurtis\u2019s\u201d was dedicated to her.\u00a0 The dedication describes how she \u201cwith 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on November 21, 2023<\/p>\n

Excerpted from the Winter 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cLilian Snelling (1879-1972) was probably the most important British botanical artist of the first half of the 20th century.\u201d\u00a0 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\u2019s journal \u201cThe Garden\u201d in July 2003. This is especially surprising as very little is known about her until at the age of 36, she became the prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Henry John Elwes, a well-known English botanist and…<\/p>\n

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