Augusta Hanna Elizabeth Innes Withers ( née Baker) (1792

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

– 1877

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

), was an English natural history illustrator, known for her illustrating of John Lindley's ''Pomological Magazine'' and her collaboration with

Sarah Drake Sarah Anne Drake (1803–1857) was an English botanical illustrator who worked for John Lindley and collaborated with Augusta Innes Withers, Nathaniel Wallich and others. Biography Sarah Anne Drake was born in Skeyton, England on 24 July 1803 ...

on the monumental ''Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala'' by James Bateman. She was appointed "

Flower Painter in Ordinary Flower Painter in Ordinary, also called ''Flower Painter to the Queen'', is a position in the United Kingdom awarded to a painter, and connected to the Queen. Holders of the office included: *Joseph Barney, "Fruit and Flower Painter to the Queen", ...

" to

Queen Adelaide , house = Saxe-Meiningen , father = Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , mother = Princess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen, Holy ...

and later to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

. She also produced illustrations for Benjamin Maund's ''Botanis'', the ''

Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London ''The Garden'' is the monthly magazine of the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), circulated to all the society's members as a benefit of membership; it is also sold to the public. History ''The Garden'' magazine has gone under this titl ...

'', the ''Illustrated Bouquet'' (1857-1863) and ''

Curtis's Botanical Magazine ''The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed'', is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name ''Curtis's Botanical Magazine''. Each of the issue ...

''.

Family background

Augusta was the daughter of a

vicar, chaplain to the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

. She lived in London all her life and was married to Theodore Withers, an accountant, who was 20 years her senior.

Career

Besides giving painting classes, she was active as a painter from before 1827 until 1865, exhibiting from 1829-46 at the Royal Academy, the

Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

and the

New Watercolour Society The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), initially called the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, is one of the societies in the Federation of British Artists, based in the Mall Galleries in London. History In 1831 the so ...

John Claudius Loudon John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...

commented in the 1831 ''Gardener's Magazine'' that her talents were of the highest order, and that "to be able to draw flowers botanically, and fruit horticulturally, that is, with the characteristics by which varieties and subvarieties are distinguished, is one of the most useful accomplishments of your ladies of leisure, living in the country." In 1815, in an attempt to clarify the nomenclature of cultivated fruit varieties and reduce the number of synonyms in common use, William Jackson Hooker initiated a project of fruit drawings in watercolour stretching over 10 volumes. Suffering a stroke in 1820, Hooker was unable to finish the work. Four other artists, including Augusta Innes Withers and Barbara Cotton were commissioned to complete the work, ironic since Withers had been refused a position as a botanical artist by Hooker's son,

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of ...

. Withers painted the 12 colour plates for Robert Thompson's ''The gardener's assistant.''

Illustrations

External links

Illustrations by Augusta Innes Withers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Withers, Augusta Innes 1793 births 1877 deaths 19th-century British women artists Botanical illustrators British women illustrators Court painters English illustrators People from Gloucestershire