CHAPTER VII 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE ART OF 

 BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION 



N the art of botanical illustration, 

 evolution was by no means a simple 

 and straightforward process. We do 

 not find, in Europe, a steady advance 

 from early illustrations of poor quality 

 to later ones of a finer character. On 

 the contrary, among the earliest extant 

 drawings, of a definitely botanical inten- 

 tion, we meet with wonderfully good figures, free from 

 such features as would be now generally regarded as 

 archaic. The famous Vienna manuscript of Dioscorides (see 

 pp. 8 and 85) is a remarkable example of the excellence of 

 some of the very early work. It dates back to the end of 

 the fifth, or the beginning of the sixth century of the 

 Christian era. It is illustrated with brush drawings on 

 a large scale, which in many cases are notably naturalistic, 

 and often quite modern in appearance (Plates I, II, XV). 

 The general habit of the plant is admirably expressed, 

 and occasionally, as in the case of the Bean (Plate XV), 

 the characters of the flowers and seed-vessels are well 

 indicated. In this drawing, also, the leaves are effectively 

 foreshortened. 



There are a number of other manuscript herbals in 

 existence, illustrated with interesting figures. The Library 

 of the University of Leyden possesses a particularly fine 

 example 1 , which is ascribed to the seventh century a.d. 



1 Codex Vossianus Latinus in Quarto No. 9. 



