Portrait Collection

Marianne North at her easel, circa 1883
Photograph of Marianne North (1830-1890), botanical artist, pictured here in Grahamstown, South Africa circa 1883. Marianne North generally travelled unaccompanied

Marianne North by Julia Margaret Cameron
The artist Marianne North photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron, circa 1877, Ceylon

Matilda Smith, botanical artist
Matilda Smith, Joseph Hookers second cousin, began training as a botanical artist in 1877, at the age of 23, and remained in Kews employ for 45 years

Portrait of William Townsend Aiton (1766 - 1849)
Lithograph portrait of William Townsend Aiton

Robert Fortune (1812-1880) born in Berwickshire, Scotland, was a botanist and plant-hunter best known for smuggling tea plants out of China at the behest of the East India Company

William Dallimore (1871-1959), known to his colleagues as " good old Dallimore" was a well-liked and long serving member of staff at RBG Kew for more than 45 years

Marianne North by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1800s
Photographic portrait of Marianne North by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1800s

Carl von Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and taxonomist
Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl von Linnaeus (Carolus von Linnaeus, later Carl von Linne) 1707-1778. Artist: Mrs Anderson (fl. 1858)

Nathaniel Wallich FRS (28 January 1786 - 28 April 1854)
Drawn by Daniel Macnee, coloured chalk on paper, mounted on card. Illustration of Nathaniel Wallich FRS (28 January 1786 - 28 April 1854) a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India

Richard Spruce (1817-1893) botanist and plant collector who was commissioned by William Hooker to transfer the cinchona (quinine) industry from South America to India

Tectona grandis Willd. watercolour on paper
Watercolour illustration commissioned by William Roxburgh

Annie M Gulvin
Annie Gulvin and Alice Hutchings were the first female gardeners at Kew in 1896. Annie Gulvin (pictured here) left in 1897 to take up the post of head gardener on an estate in South Wales

Marianne North, photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron
Marianne North photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron in Kalutara, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), 1877. Marianne North met Julia Cameron when she stayed at the photographers home at Kalutara

Portrait of George Bentham (1800 -1884)
George Bentham (1800-1884), CMG, LLD, FRS, PLS (copy of a portrait by Lowes Cato Dickinson) by Emily Mary Merrick (attributed to) Portrait of George Bentham (1800-1884)

Walter Fitch, Llewllyn House, Kew. Presented by his widow in 1904. Walter Fitch (1817-1892) was appointed as a botanical artist for Curtis Botanical magazine by William Hooker

Richard Spruce (1817-1893) botanist, explorer, plant collector

Carl von Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and taxonomist
Line and stipple engraving of Carl Linnaeus by Charles Edward Wagstaff, after Magnus Hallman Stipple.Linnaeus wears the Swedish Order of the Polar Star

Allium ursinum, 1838
Illustration of Allium ursinum, also known as wild garlic or ransoms, from Flora Danica by Georg Christian Oeder and Frederik Michael Liebmann, volume 13, plate 757, 1838

Agastache foeniculum, 1829
Illustration of Agastache foeniculum, also known as anise hyssop, from Edwards's Botanical Register, edited by John Lindley, 1829

Achillea ageratum, 1800
Illustration of Acillea ageratum, also known as English mace, from Afbeeldingen der artseny-gewassen met derzelver Nederduitsche en Latynsche beschryvingen by Zorn, 1800

Glycyrrhiza glabra, 1832
Illustration of Glycyrrhiza glabra, also known as liquorice, from Flore medicale by Francois Pierre Chaumeton, 1832

Tamarindus indica, c.1825-1828
Illustration of Tamarindus indica, also known as tamarind, from Kew Collection by Rungiah for Robert Wright, c.1825-1828

Armoracia rusticana, 1822
Illutstration of Armoracia rusticana, also known as horseradish, from Flora Batava by Jan Kops, 1822

Allium schoenoprasum, 1869
Illstration of Allium schoenoprasum, also known as chives, from English Botany by James Sowerby, 1869

Myristica fragrans, 1856
Illustration of Myristica fragrans, also known as nutmeg or mace, from Belgique horticole, journal des jardins et des vergers by Charles Morren, 1856

Citrus hystrix, 1819
Illustration of Citrus hystrix, also known as makrut lime, from Traite des Arbres et Arbustes que l'on Cultive en France en Pleine Terre by Duhamel du Monceau, 1819

Pimenta dioica, 1827
Illustration of Pimenta dioica, also known as allspice, from Flore Pittoresque et Medicale des Antilles by Michel Etienne Descourtilz, 1827

Crocus sativus, c. 1828
Illustration of Crocus sativus, also known as saffron, from Kew Collection, possibly by Vishnupersaud for John Forbes Royle, c.1828

Salvia officinalis, 1776
Illustration of Salvia officinalis, also known as sage, from Flora Parisiensis by Pierre Bulliard, 1776

Thymus vulgaris, 1800-1819
Illustration of Thymus vulgaris, also known as thyme, from Traite des Arbres et Arbustes que l'on Cultive en France en Pleine Terre by H. L. Duhamel du Monceau, 1800-1819

Capsicum annuum Longum group, c. 1810
Illustration of Capsicum annuum Longum group, also known as chilli or paprika, from Kew Collection for Adam Freer, c.1810

Mentha spicata, 1830
Illustration f Mentha spicata, also known as mint, from Getreue Darstellung und Beschreibung der in der Arzneykunde Gebrauchlichen Gewachse by F.G. Hayne, 1830

Petroselinum crispum, 1765
Illustration of Petroselinum crispum, also known as parsley, from Herbarium Blackwellianum by Elizabeth Blackwell, 1765

Rhus coriaria, 1773
Illustration of Rhus coriaria, also known as sumac, from Herbarium Blackwellianum by Elizabeth Blackwell, 1773

Lavandula dentata, 1798
Illustration of Lavandula dentata. also known as fringed lavender or French lavender, from Curtis's Botanical Magazine by William Curtis, 1798

Foeniculum vulgare, 1832
Illustration of Foeniculum vulgare, also known as fennel, from Flora Indica by unknown Indian artist for William Roxburgh, 1832

Matricaria chamomilla, 1866
Illustration of Matricaria chamomilla, also known as wild chamomile or German chamomile, from English Botany by James Sowerby, 1866

Xylopia aethiopica, 1581
Illustration of Xylopia aethiopica, also known as Ethiopean pepper or grain of Selim, from Plantarum seu Stirpium Icones by Matthias de L'Obel, 1581

Eryngium foetidum, 1725
Illustration of Eryngium foetidum, also known as fitweed or shado beni, from A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica by Hans Sloane, 1725

Citrus hystrix, 1750
Illustration of Citrus hystrix, also known as makrut lime or kaffir lime, from Herbarium Amboinense by Georgius Everhardus Rumphius, 1750

Eriobotrya japonica, 1825
Illustration of Eriobotrya japonica, commonly known as loquat. Watercolour on paper by Jean Gabriel Pretre from the Kew Collection, 1825

Artocarpus incisa, 1788-1812
Current accepted plant name is Artocarpus altilis, commonly known as breadfruit. Illustration made on hand-coloured copper engraving on laid-paper from Icones Plantarum Medicinalium by Joseph Jacob

Camassia quamash, 1832
Current accepted plant name is Camassia quamash, commonly known as Indian hyacinth. Hand-coloured lithograph on paper by Sarah Anne Drake, 1832

The Kew Fire Brigade was operated on a voluntary basis by staff from the Gardens with, from 1882, a station in the Melon Yard on the Kew Road near the southern tip of Kew Green

Adrien Rene Franchet - 1834-1900
Portrait of Adrien Franchet, Bull.Soc.Bot.France (1900), French botanist, based at the Paris Museum national d Histoire Naturelle

Pere Armand David - 1826-1900
Pere Armand David (1826-1900) Lazarist missionary Catholic priest, zoologist and botanist

D. Oliver, Otto Stapf, W. Botting Hemsley, J. G. Baker. The first four Keepers of the Herbarium, RBG Kew, photographed in 1916

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