Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.17973

    'Vitis Idoea Caroliniana'

    Date
    c.1730
    Creator
    Jacob van Huysum (1682 - 1745, Dutch) , Painter
    Object type
    Archive reference number
    Material
    Dimensions
    height: 375mm
    width: 265mm
    Subject
    Content object
    nature
       > plant
    Description
    Botanical study of Vitis Idoea Caroliniana, common name St Peter's wort shrub. This plant is native to North America. Painting shows a long brown stalk of the plant, with green leaves, and small red berries.

    Painting 25 from MS/109, a collection of botanical paintings by Jacob van Huysum and William Sartorius.

    Inscribed 'Vitis Idoea Caroliniana foliis subrotundis oppositis floribus minimis herbaceis fructu parvo rubro'. Not signed.

    This painting is reproduced in the Society of Gardeners' book Catalogus Plantarum (1730) (plate 20, central figure). The book was written by Philip Miller FRS, Foreman of Chelsea Physic Garden, where this plant was likely cultivated.

    Jacob van Huysum (1682-1745), Dutch botanical painter, was not a Fellow of the Royal Society. He produced most of the 50 illustrations for the Historia Plantarum Rariorum (London: 1728-38) written by John Martyn FRS, and all the drawings for Miller’s Catalogus Plantarum, an index of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers.
    Object history
    Repeated in the British Museum collection, SL,5284.89. Slight variations to the Royal Society copy. Digital image available on online catalogue.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > United Kingdom
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