Jacob van Huysum (1688 – 1740) was an 18th-century botanical painter from the northern Netherlands who moved to England in 1721. Van Huysum was baptized 25 February 1688 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

.Jacob van Huysum
in the RKD Both his father

Justus van Huysum Justus van Huysum, also spelled Huijsum, (July 8, 1659 in Amsterdam – April 23, 1716 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Justus Van Huysum is the son of the decorative painter Jan van Huysum the Elder, who moved to Ams ...

(1659–1716), and his brother

Jan van Huysum Jan van Huysum (or Jan van Huijsum) (15 April 1682 – 8 February 1749) is the most notable member of the Van Huysum family of artists working in Dutch Golden Age of the 17th and 18th centuries; “by common consent, Jan van Huysum has been held ...

(1682–1749), were celebrated flower painters. His manner of painting was very like that of his brother. One source says that “his chief merit was in copying so well his brother Jan’s pictures, that his copies have been mistaken for original works by Jan.” Another art historian states that while his work is less finished and less delicately colored than Jan’s, his paintings still have “great merit” in their own right. His approach to botanical illustration, while preserving botanical accuracy, captured a more painterly aspect of his subject. This contrasts with the meticulously exact mode of Georg Dionysius Ehret, his contemporary colleague. Jacob arrived in England in about 1721, and for a while lived in the house of his patron, Mr. Lockyear of

South Sea House South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

. Later he enjoyed the patronage of Sir

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...

, who befriended him, and commissioned him to paint decorative works for his house at Houghton in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. More importantly he produced most of the 50 illustrations for John Martyn's ''Historia Plantarum Rariorum'' (London: 1728-38), and all the drawings for ''Catalogus Plantarum'', an index of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers (London: 1730). His pupil was Louis Fabritius Dubourg. ''Historia Plantarum Rariorum'' depicted plants from the Chelsea Physic Garden and the

Cambridge Botanic Garden The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located in Cambridge, England, associated with the university Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Botany School). It lies between Trumpington Road to the west, Bateman Street to ...

. These plants had come from the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

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, the

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, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Elisha Kirkall Elisha Kirkall (c.1682–1742) was a prolific English engraver, who made many experiments in printmaking techniques. He was noted for engravings on type metal that could be set up with letterpress for book illustrations, and was also known as a ...

produced the mezzotint engravings. Each plate was dedicated to a patron and showed an engraved coat-of-arms or monogram. Besides van Huysum, other artists were William Houstoun, Massey, G. Sartorys, and R. Sartorius. The work was published in five parts of ten plates each between 1728 and 1737, and was sold by subscription. The venture was not a financial success and publication ceased in 1737.

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Donald Heald
Image:Historia Plantarum Rariorum00.jpg, {{DEFAULTSORT:Huysum, Jacob Van 1688 births 1740 deaths 18th-century Dutch painters 18th-century Dutch male artists Painters from Amsterdam Dutch expatriates in England Dutch male painters Flower artists Huysum family of painters

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