Roberta Cowing Throckmorton (October 1860 - July 31, 1924) was an American artist, employed by the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

(USDA).

Early life

Roberta Cowing was born to William Jackson Cowing (1832–1893) and Matilda Helen Crupper Cowing (1837–1896) in October of 1860, in Rushville, Rush County, Indiana, USA. She had one older brother, Frank Myrtle Cowing (1857–1894).

Career

Cowing was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to paint watercolors of fruit and nut varieties, as part of the USDA's Pomological Watercolor Collection. The collection includes paintings of Prunus salicina ( Japanese plum), Pyrus communis (

pears Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

), and Rubus (

brambles A bramble is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus ''Rubus'', which grows blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries. "Bramble" is also used to describe other prickly shrubs, such as roses (''Rosa'' species). The fruits inclu ...

). She made illustrations of plants collected in an 1891 botanical survey of Death Valley; the work was published in an educational journal. ''Collections from the U.S. National Herbarium'' published twenty-one drawings of plants collected in Death Valley in their November 1893 issue, seventeen of which were signed by Roberta Cowing. Today, Cowing's work can be found in Carnegie Mellon University'
Catalogue of the Botanical Art Collection at the Hunt Institute: Public Domain Images
as well as in several USDA government publications: * ''Bulletin No. 1-29'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1888 * ''Peach Yellows: A Preliminary Report'', Department of Agriculture, Botanical Division, 1888 * ''Bulletin'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1888 * ''Yearbook of Agriculture'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1889 Cowing was active in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

from 1887 to 1920. She resided at 1311 13th Street N.W. Washington, D.C.

Personal life

Roberta Cowing married Ernest Throckmorton at her parents' residence, on December 27, 1892. Together, they had two sons, Robert W Throckmorton (1893–1952) and set designer Cleon Francis Throckmorton (1897–1965).

Death

Roberta Cowing Throckmorton passed away at the age of 63, at George Washington University Hospital, on July 31, 1924, and she was buried in

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stre ...

in Washington, D.C.

References

External links

U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection

Images
painted by Cowing in the collection.
The Johnson Collection, Directory of Southern Women Artists

Huntia: A Journal of Botanical History, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie-Mellon University

The Artists of Washington, D.C., 1796-1996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowing, Roberta 1860 births 1924 deaths 19th-century American artists Botanical illustrators Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery