Henry George Moon (18 February 1857

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

– 6 October 1905

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

), was an English landscape and botanical painter, noted for his orchid paintings illustrating '' Reichenbachia'', a monthly publication named in honour of

Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (Dresden, 3 January 1823 – Hamburg, 6 May 1889) was a botanist and the foremost German orchidologist of the 19th century. His father Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (author of ''Icones Florae Germanicae et Helve ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, the great

orchidologist This is a list of orchidologists, botanists specializing in the study of orchids. The list is sorted in the surname alphabetical order. A * Oakes Ames (botanist) (1874–1950), an American biologist specializing in orchids Joseph Arditti (193 ...

. He was the eldest son of Henry Moon,

parliamentary agent Parliamentary agents are solicitors who are licensed (together with the firms they belong to) by the Houses of Parliament in the United Kingdom to draft, promote or oppose private bills. Private bills are a specific class of legislation promoted ...

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. He received his schooling at Dr. Bell's in Barnet, and later became a student at the Birkbeck and Saint Martin's schools of art. When he was 21, Moon worked as a legal clerk intending to become a barrister, but in 1880 his interest in art led to his joining the art team of ''The Garden'', a fashionable horticultural journal. From then on, Moon created most of the magazine's coloured plates. He spent much time during this period furthering his interest in landscape painting, and was greatly influenced by a companion, William Edward Norton (1843–1916),Newport Fine Art
/ref> an American painter. Moon also contributed art work to ''The English Flower Garden'', ''Wild Garden'', and ''Flora and Silva''. Moon first went to

in 1884, visiting the orchid nursery of

Frederick Sander Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

in order to make drawings for ''The English Flower Garden'', which was being published by William Robinson. In 1885, Sander approached him about illustrating the ''Reichenbachia''. Moon devoted the following four years of his life to painting most of the plates, and directing the printing side which was done by hand in Sander's printing works at St Albans. Moon produced the woodcuts and the printing was carried out by a certain Mr. Moffat. In the autumn of 1892, Moon settled permanently in St Albans with his mother and sister. Two years later he married Sander's daughter and produced a steady flow of paintings for Sander and a number of publications. He was frequently to be found in the countryside, painting and sketching. Moon did most of the plates for ''Reichenbachia'', with a number of other artists contributing. Some of the work is unsigned, known contributors being

Walter Hood Fitch Walter Hood Fitch (28 February 1817 – 1892) was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications. His work in colour lithograph, including 2700 illustrations for ''Curtis's Bot ...

, A. H. Loch, George Hansen, Charles Storer (1817–1907), J. Watton, and J. L. Macfarlane. He played an active and valued role in art circles as judge and critic, and often attended working sessions and exhibitions at the London sketching clubs - the Birkbeck, the Gilbert-Garrett, the Langhorn, and the Polytechnic. Moon's already frail health suffered as a result of the constant demands placed on it - doing his own framing, and dealing with the constant claims made on his time and energy from other sources. His death at the relatively youthful age of forty eight, brought great sorrow to his family, the firm of Sander, and the worlds of botanical art and orchid culture. He left his widow and two young sons.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moon, Henry 1857 births 1905 deaths Botanical illustrators Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London People from Chipping Barnet Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art 19th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English male artists