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Bull Bay

Drawing
1743 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is one of the many botanical illustrations by Ehret in the V&A collections. The Bull Bay (Magnolia grandiflora) was introduced to Europe from the southern United States. It flowered in Europe for the first time in the garden of Sir Charles Wager at Parson’s Green, near Fulham, a suburb of London. Ehret walked there every day from his home in Chelsea to draw the plant. He studied each stage of its unfolding and ‘drew every part of it in order to publish a perfect botanical study of it’.

The finished watercolour gives a very clear view of the structure of the flower. At the time this was thought to be the key to the classification of plants. The watercolour, though, is as much decorative as scientific. Ehret has not included detailed dissections of the separate parts of the flower and fruit.

Although Ehret worked closely with the great Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, he always favoured the pictorial rather than the diagrammatic style of botanical illustration. Here he has painted the seeds with shadows as if they were actually lying on the page. But the flower itself is represented according to the standard conventions of botanical illustration - that is, in silhouette against a white ground.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Bull Bay (popular title)
  • Magnolia grandiflora L. (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour and gouache on vellum
Brief description
Botanical study of a Bull Bay (Magnolia grandiflora) by Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-70); watercolour and gouache on vellum; London; 1743
Physical description
Botanical study of a white magnolia flower, with leaf behind, centrally positioned and seed pod laid on its side to the bottom right, casting a shadow.
Dimensions
  • Height: 53.2cm
  • Width: 36.8cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • G.D. Ehret. p. 1743 (Signature; date; handwriting; ink, Centre right)
  • MAGNOLIA altissima Laura-Cerassi folio, flore ingenti candido. cateso. / The Laurel-leaved Tulip-tree. (Ink, lower centre)
Gallery label
Georg Dionysius Ehret 1708-70 Bull Bay (Magnolia grandiflora L.) 1743 This magnolia was introduced to Europe from the United States. It first flowered in Europe in the garden of Sir Charles Wager at Parson's Green. Ehret walked from his home in Chelsea to draw it, examining each stage of the unfolding flower to make 'a perfect botanical study'. London Watercolour and gouache on vellum V&A: D.583-1886(2011)
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is one of the many botanical illustrations by Ehret in the V&A collections. The Bull Bay (Magnolia grandiflora) was introduced to Europe from the southern United States. It flowered in Europe for the first time in the garden of Sir Charles Wager at Parson’s Green, near Fulham, a suburb of London. Ehret walked there every day from his home in Chelsea to draw the plant. He studied each stage of its unfolding and ‘drew every part of it in order to publish a perfect botanical study of it’.

The finished watercolour gives a very clear view of the structure of the flower. At the time this was thought to be the key to the classification of plants. The watercolour, though, is as much decorative as scientific. Ehret has not included detailed dissections of the separate parts of the flower and fruit.

Although Ehret worked closely with the great Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, he always favoured the pictorial rather than the diagrammatic style of botanical illustration. Here he has painted the seeds with shadows as if they were actually lying on the page. But the flower itself is represented according to the standard conventions of botanical illustration - that is, in silhouette against a white ground.
Collection
Accession number
D.583-1886

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Record createdFebruary 19, 2004
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