Study of mushrooms
Watercolour
ca.1887-1901 (drawn)
ca.1887-1901 (drawn)
| Artist/Maker |
Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.
Beatrix Potter was deeply interested in natural history and as a young woman became especially concerned with mycology (the study of fungi). She made hundreds of mycological drawings, many of which she bequeathed to the Armitt Museum and Library in Ambleside, the Lake District, after her death. This undated example of a fungi study from the Linder Bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum probably dates from the period 1887-1901, when she is known to have been producing mycological drawings. In this drawing Beatrix Potter has used an opaque white for the highlights and speckles seen on the mushrooms shown here, identified as Amanita asper, otherwise rendered in watercolour.
Beatrix Potter not only made careful drawings of fungi, but actively studied it. Her scientific paper, On the Germination of the spores of the Agaricineae was read at the Linnean Society in London, but was never published.
Beatrix Potter was deeply interested in natural history and as a young woman became especially concerned with mycology (the study of fungi). She made hundreds of mycological drawings, many of which she bequeathed to the Armitt Museum and Library in Ambleside, the Lake District, after her death. This undated example of a fungi study from the Linder Bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum probably dates from the period 1887-1901, when she is known to have been producing mycological drawings. In this drawing Beatrix Potter has used an opaque white for the highlights and speckles seen on the mushrooms shown here, identified as Amanita asper, otherwise rendered in watercolour.
Beatrix Potter not only made careful drawings of fungi, but actively studied it. Her scientific paper, On the Germination of the spores of the Agaricineae was read at the Linnean Society in London, but was never published.
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Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Study of mushrooms (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | watercolour and gouache over pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour over pencil drawing of a group of brownish coloured mushrooms (Amanita aspera) by Beatrix Potter, probably late 19th century, Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.289. |
| Physical description | A drawing in landscape format with three finished studies of brownish mushrooms and two smaller, less finished studies. In watercolour over pencil with white highlights in gouache. |
| Dimensions |
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| Content description | mycology |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'Amanita Asper' (inscribed on mount (now detached) by another hand) |
| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Drawn by Beatrix Potter, probably in the period 1887-1901. Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale. Beatrix Potter was deeply interested in natural history and as a young woman became especially concerned with mycology (the study of fungi). She made hundreds of mycological drawings, many of which she bequeathed to the Armitt Museum and Library in Ambleside, the Lake District, after her death. This undated example of a fungi study from the Linder Bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum probably dates from the period 1887-1901, when she is known to have been producing mycological drawings. In this drawing Beatrix Potter has used an opaque white for the highlights and speckles seen on the mushrooms shown here, identified as Amanita asper, otherwise rendered in watercolour. Beatrix Potter not only made careful drawings of fungi, but actively studied it. Her scientific paper, On the Germination of the spores of the Agaricineae was read at the Linnean Society in London, but was never published. |
| Bibliographic reference | Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.
p.32; no.289
Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection: the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material: watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985. p.32; no.289 |
| Other number | LB.289 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.355 |
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| Record created | June 10, 2015 |
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