AUGUST, 1906.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 239 
painter, who exhibited largely at the Royal Academy and Suffolk Street 
galleries between 1828 and 1858, to make coloured drawings of Orchids ; 
and from a note in the Kew Correspondence there were 300 drawings by 
this artist at a cost of £3 each. This collection, described as a very fine 
one, was sold by auction after Mr. Day’s death, and is now the property of 
Mr. Jeremiah Colman, of Gatton Park, Surrey. 
‘‘We have mentioned Durham, because his name occurs here and there 
in Day’s books, appended to a drawing of a flower or a plant, and because 
he appears to have given Day lessons in drawing. In Book iv., p. 10, for 
instance, there is the note appended to a drawing of Cattleya bicolor : ‘ My 
gth lesson.’ At p. 66 of the same book is a coloured drawing of Cattleya 
Schilleriana splendens, and the following note : ‘ Drawn by Mr. Durham, 
June, 1862 ; the first drawing he ever did here. This from the plant bought 
at Mr. Allen’s sale at Stevens’s in June, 1860, and the subject of Mr. 
Durham’s beautiful drawing in vol. vii., p. 11.’ 
“In 1863 Mr. Day himself began sketching, the first sketch being dated 
January 10, and he continued to make drawings up to within a few weeks 
of his death, January 15, 1888, the last but one bearing the date November 
12, 1887, the last being undated. All of the earlier ones are in ink, but in 
many places he afterwards added coloured sketches, always giving the date 
when done. The earliest sketches are somewhat rough and diagrammatic, 
though botanically correct; but he improved rapidly, and his later work 
was admirably executed, both as to drawing and colouring. Day must 
have been very industrious at that period, for by the middle of February, 
1864, he was half way through his seventh book, where (page 45) there is a 
coloured figure of Cypripedium purpuratum, with the following note : 
‘This is the first drawing I attempted in colours, using Gerty’s paint-box. 
I was sufficiently satisfied with the result to buy a box for myself.’ His 
satisfaction was quite justifiable, and his perseverance was soon rewarded 
with great success. Practically all he did after this was coloured. In 
December, 1882, he wrote to Kew applying for a pass of admission to the 
gardens before the general public in order that he might make drawings of 
the ‘ smaller, insignificant Orchids.’ This was granted, and writing again 
in 1886 he mentions that he had drawn at least 70 that he had not seen 
elsewhere. His last Kew drawing is dated October 29, 1887. From time 
to time he presented living plants to Kew. 
“The fact that the John Day collection contains drawings of a large 
number of the types of Reichenbach’s species adds greatly to its value, as 
most of them are not otherwise represented at Kew, and probably in no 
other herbarium except the Reichenbachian shut up at Vienna, which, 
according to the terms of Reichenbach’s testament, will not be accessible 
till IQT4. W. 5B. 
