A quality production with full-page illustrations of 87 historically significant plants in Sydney’s three botanical gardens. 64 leading botanical artists contributed to this wonderful collection. The majority are Australian with 23 international artists also contributing. Almost all of the artists are represented in the major public and private collections around the world and have been awarded medals. The artists donated their work to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust to create this contemporary florilegium. A florilegium is a collection of paintings of plants from a particular garden or place. The paintings have been exhibited at the Museum of Sydney in 2016 and in 2018, the exhibition travelled to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: a measure of its quality. 87 plants were chosen for their botanical and historical significance. Most have been painted life size, and then reduced by about half for reproduction in the book. The variety of contemporary styles represent individual artistic responses to the plants, while always retaining botanical accuracy. The foreword is by Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE, the foremost collector of botanical art; with an introductory essay by Beverly Allen, and historic overview by Colleen Morris is followed by text for each plant’s fascinating historic and cultural significance and a botanic description by Louisa Murray. Artist biographies far included. The book is an attractive contemporary design, printed on quality matt art paper (low gloss), allowing accurate reproduction of the colours. Careful quality control through the production process has ensured this. Text is on the left-hand page of each spread, with the artwork generally on the right, sometimes spreading over both pages. All profits from sales of the book will go towards conservation of books and artwork held at the Gardens. The artists have donated their work to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust.
