Wilfrid Jasper Walter Blunt (19 July 1901 - 8 January 1987) known simply as Wilfrid Blunt, was an art teacher, writer, artist and a curator of the Watts Gallery in Compton,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, from 1959 until 1983.

Life

His parents were the Rev. Arthur Stanley Vaughan and Hilda Violet (born Master) Blunt, of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Blunt was born at Ham in Surrey and educated at

Marlborough College ( 1 Corinthians 3:6: God gives the increase) , established = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = Nicholas Holtam , head_label = Master , head = Louise ...

, where he was a scholar, leaving in July 1920 for

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms ...

, where he was an Exhibitioner, finally at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It of ...

."Blunt, Wilfrid Jasper Walter" in ''Marlborough College Register 1843–1952'' (The Bursar, Marlborough, 1953), p. 593 He was art master at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ** Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an internatio ...

(1923–38) and then at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

(1938–59) and helped to start a revolution in the hand-writing of British school-children, using the 15th-century Italian '' Cancellaresca'' (" Chancery") script as a basis, although one of his students at Eton reminisced that after being taken off Art to improve his handwriting, Mr Blunt failed to make it any more legible. For his book ''The Art of Botanical Illustration'' in 1950 he was awarded the

Veitch Memorial Medal The Veitch Memorial Medal is an international prize issued annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Goal The prize is awarded to "persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement ...

by the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ( ...

. This book was considered the first comprehensive review of botanical illustration in Europe. Subsequent editions (by his co-author, Willian T. Stearn) provided coverage of more of the world and the twentieth century. The sixth international exhibition of botanical art and illustration held in 1988 at the

Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation (HIBD), dedicated as the Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library in 1961, is a research division of Carnegie Mellon University. History HIBD is named for Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt. She do ...

, USA was dedicated to Blunt. He had been a member of the Advisory Committee to the Institute since 1964. He died in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

on 8 January 1987. His brothers were the numismatist Christopher Evelyn Blunt and Anthony Blunt,

Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for ...

expert and Russian spy. His namesake

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922), sometimes spelt Wilfred, was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines ...

was a distant family cousin.

Books

* '' Haileybury Buildings'' (1936); 2nd edition (1966) * ''Desert Hawk: Abd el Kader and the French Conquest of Algeria'' (Methuen, 1947) * ''The Art of

Botanical Illustration Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species, frequently in watercolor paintings. They must be scientifically accurate but often also have an artistic component and may be printed with a botanical ...

'' (1950) with William T. Stearn * '' Tulipomania'' (Penguin, 1950) from the King Penguin Books series * ''Black Sunrise: The Life and Times of Mulai Ismail, Emperor of Morocco 1646-1727'' (1951) * ''Sweet Roman Hand: Five Hundred Years of Italic Cursive Script'' (1952) * '' Pietro's Pilgrimage: A Journey to India and Back at the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century'' (1953) * ''Sebastiano: The Adventures of an Italian Priest, Sebastiano Locatelli, During his Journey from Bologna to Paris and Back 1664-1665'' (1956) * ''Great Flower Books, 1700-1900: A Bibliographical Record of Two Centuries of Finely-illustrated Flower Books'' (1956),

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on ...

, Wilfrid Blunt and Patrick Millington Synge,

Atlantic Monthly Press Grove Atlantic, Inc. is an American independent publisher, based in New York City. Formerly styled "Grove/Atlantic, Inc.", it was created in 1993 by the merger of Grove Press and Atlantic Monthly Press. As of 2018 Grove Atlantic calls itself "An ...

(1990) * ''A Persian Spring'' (James Barrie Books, Ltd., 1957) * ''Lady Muriel; Lady Muriel Paget, her husband, and her philanthropic work in Central and Eastern Europe'' (1962) * ''Of Flowers & A Village: An Entertainment for Flower Lovers'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1963) * ''Cockerell; Sydney Carlyle Cockerell, friend of Ruskin and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

and director of the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th V ...

, Cambridge'' (1965) * ''

Isfahan Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is l ...

, Pearl of Persia'' (1966, with Wim Swaan) * ''Omar: A Fantasy for Animal Lovers'' (1966) illustrated by John Verney * '' John Christie of Glyndebourne'' (1968) * ''The Dream King, Ludwig of Bavaria'' (1970) * ''The Compleat Naturalist: A Life of

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

'' (Collins, 1971, with William T. Stearn) * ''

Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728Old Style and New Style dates, Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartography, cartographer, and captain (Royal Navy), captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for ...

Florilegium In medieval Latin, a ' (plural ') was a compilation of excerpts or sententia from other writings and is an offshoot of the commonplacing tradition. The word is from the Latin ''flos'' (flower) and '' legere'' (to gather): literally a gathering of ...

'' (1973, with W. T. Stearn) * ''The Golden Road to

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zi ...

'' (1973) * ''On Wings of Song; a Biography of

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

'' (1974) * ''The Australian Flower Paintings of

Ferdinand Bauer Ferdinand Lucas Bauer (20 January 1760 – 17 March 1826) was an Austrian botanical illustrator who travelled on Matthew Flinders' expedition to Australia. Biography Early life and career Bauer was born in Feldsberg in 1760, the youngest son ...

'' (1976, with W. T. Stearn) * ''The Ark in the Park:

The Zoo ''The Zoo'' is a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson, writing under the pen name of Bolton Rowe. It premiered on 5 June 1875 at the St. James's Theatre in London (as an afterpiece to W. S. ...

in the Nineteenth Century'' (1976) * ''Splendours of Islam'' (1976) * ''In For a Penny: A Prospect of

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of ...

'' (1978) * ''The Illustrated Herbal'' ( Frances Lincoln, 1979, with S. Raphael) * ''Married to a Single Life: An Autobiography'', 1901-1938 (1983) * ''Slow on the Feather: Further Autobiography'', 1938–1959 (1986)

References

1901 births 1987 deaths English art historians English curators English artists Veitch Memorial Medal recipients New Naturalist writers 20th-century English historians {{UK-art-historian-stub