Ann Lee (1753 – 1790) was a British botanical illustrator who also illustrated birds and insects.

Life

Lee was the youngest daughter of James Lee, a Scottish nurseryman trading in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, London, who is described in one source as "the botanist John Lee". She was a pupil of artist and illustrator

Sydney Parkinson Sydney Parkinson ( 1745 – 26 January 1771) was a Scottish botanical illustrator and natural history artist. He was the first European artist to visit Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Parkinson was the first Quaker to visit New Zealand. ...

(1745-1771) until his early death at sea in the employment of

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

. In Parkinson's will he left "whatever utensils that are useful in painting or drawing to Mr. Lee's daughter, my scholar." In 2012 these "utensils" were reported to be in the collection of the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

. Her father was in correspondence with

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

during the 1770s and he would send his daughter's drawings to him to illustrate a point. He offered to send some of her work to him on loan or to view because of its value. Lee was commissioned by John Fothergill to draw plants from his garden and insects and shells from his museum. After Fothergill's death his collection, including Lee's drawings, was sold to

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

. Lee made copies of her drawings before they were sent to St Petersburg.

Death and legacy

Lee pre-deceased her father. She was buried in Hammersmith in 1790 aged 37. Certhia familiaris Linnaeus Eurasian treecreeper- Ann Lee - 107-1973-26

The

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...

holds the Ann Lee Collection, presented to Kew in 1969. This comprises 165 illustrations of which some two thirds are attributed to Lee, the remaining 60 being on Chinese paper and believed to be by Chinese artists, thought to have been collected by her father in connection with his work supplying exotic plants to the gardens. Her works held by Kew were included in a major project with the Oak Spring Garden Foundation to digitise the work of women botanical illustrators. The

Royal Albert Memorial Museum Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) is a museum and art gallery in Exeter, Devon, the largest in the city. It holds significant and diverse collections in areas such as zoology, anthropology, fine art, local and foreign archaeolog ...

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

holds a collection of 79 of her drawings of butterflies, birds and insects donated by her descendent Marjorie Lee. A group of seven of her botanical illustrations, dated in 1771 when she was aged 17 or 18, sold for £3,125 at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

auction house in 2013. File:Goliath Beetle (the underside of) - Ann Lee - 107-1973-78.jpg, Goliath Beetle (the underside of) by Ann Lee File:Lanius excubitor Linnaeus great grey shrike - Ann Lee - 107-1973-12.jpg, Lanius excubitor Linnaeus: great grey shrike by Ann Lee File:Phalaena and Papilio Tritonia - Ann Lee - 107-1973-33.jpg, Phalaena and Papilio Tritonia by Ann Lee File:Study of a bird - Ann Lee - 107-1973-25.jpg, Study of a bird by Ann Lee

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Ann 1753 births 1790 deaths British botanical illustrators British bird artists 18th-century British artists 18th-century British women artists