Abundant Beauty: The Adventurous Travels of Marianne North, Botanical Artist
Marianne Northwas born in 1830 in Hastings, England. The daughter of a politician, North was raised in a socially active and intellectually stimulating household. She cared for her parents until their deaths, taking on the role of her father’s housekeeper and travelling companion until he died in 1869. For the next fifteen years, she travelled extensively, painting indigenous and unique plants from the four corners of the globe. She took her last journey (to Chile) in 1884 and then, suffering from attacks of “nerves,” settled for good at her cottage at Gloucestershire to organize her journals. A number of plant species are named in her honour, includingAreca northiana,Crinum northianum, andKniphofia northiana. Marianne North died in 1890.Laura Ponsonby, former Archivist, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, is the author of two books about Marianne North.