James Sowerby. The Enligthtment's Natural Historian. 2015. 150 col. pls. 30 b/w figs. 331 p. gr8vo. Hardcover.

The mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century was a time of illustrious achievements in the world of botanical art. Artists whoonce sought to please the whims of wealthy patrons were turning to scientists for inspiration, and they now had access to countless new botanical specimens thanks to prolific explorers and planthunters. One of the best botanical artists and most knowledgeable natural historians of this era was James Sowerby (17571822). Talented and prolific, his crowningachievement was Sowerby's Botany, a thirty-six volume work on the botany of England that contained 2,592 hand-colored botanical engravings. Despite Sowerbys place in the pantheon of botanical artists, no full biography of the artist exists. Paul Henderson remedies this with a thoroughly researched and wholly fascinating look at Sowerbys life and legacy. Henderson explores Sowerbys artistic achievements as well as his place atthe center of a thriving network of artists and scientists. Sowerby worked closely with key botanists of the time, influencing the likes of Sir Joseph Banks and James Smith, as well as Dawson Turner, James Dickson, Aylmer Lambert, and William Woodville. He also contributed illustrations to the earliest volumes of The Botanical Magazine (later known as Curtis's Botanical Magazine). Specimens from his collection round out the holdings of museums around the world, and he has become the paterfamilias of a talented line of botanical and natural science illustrators.Hendersons Sowerbys Botany is beautifully illustrated with Sowerbys artwork and includes extracts from letters, manuscripts, and natural history publications. It is a fascinating story of an influential artist working at the intersections of art and nature at a time of unprecedented scientific enlightenment.