Spruce fir specimen
Date
ca.1730
Creator
Jacob van Huysum (1682 - 1745, Dutch) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 372mm
width (page): 270mm
width (page): 270mm
Subject
Description
Botanical study of a specimen of Piceae abies, common name spruce fir tree. Depicts a branch with brown bark, green needle-like leaves, and small brown cones on the ends of branches.
Painting 56 from MS/109, a collection of botanical paintings by Jacob van Huysum and William Sartorius.
Inscribed in ink 'Abies piceae foliis brevioribus conis minimis'. Not signed.
According to Philip Miller's The Gardener's Dictionary (1735), specimens of this tree were first brought from America and planted in Devonshire and Cornwall. A variant of this painting is reproduced in the Society of Gardeners' Catalogus Plantarum (1730) (plate 1, central figure, engraved by by Elisha Kirkall).
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 Philip Miller’s Catalogus Plantarum, an index of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers.
Philip Miller (1691 - 1771) English botanist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1730.
Painting 56 from MS/109, a collection of botanical paintings by Jacob van Huysum and William Sartorius.
Inscribed in ink 'Abies piceae foliis brevioribus conis minimis'. Not signed.
According to Philip Miller's The Gardener's Dictionary (1735), specimens of this tree were first brought from America and planted in Devonshire and Cornwall. A variant of this painting is reproduced in the Society of Gardeners' Catalogus Plantarum (1730) (plate 1, central figure, engraved by by Elisha Kirkall).
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 Philip Miller’s Catalogus Plantarum, an index of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers.
Philip Miller (1691 - 1771) English botanist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1730.
Object history
Repeated in the British Museum collection, SL,5284.3. Slight variations to the Royal Society copy. Digital image available on online catalogue.
Associated place