A pansy plant with buds
Watercolour
21 September 1896 (made)
21 September 1896 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
As a young woman Beatrix Potter made many studies of flowers from nature. She studied natural history with some seriousness, exploring the collections of the Natural History Museum, including the insect cases and fungi specimens. She had a collector’s cabinet full of specimens, from shells to dead butterflies and moths, and used a magnifying glass and a microscope to examine them more closely. She made numerous carefully observed studies of animals and plants from life.
If the date Potter added to this drawing, 21st September 1896, is correct, it must have been made during a stay at Near Sawrey, the Lake District; if this is the case the verso inscription mentioning Winchelsea in Sussex relates to a different drawing. In her journal entry for that date, Potter wrote: ‘The sun had some hesitation in breaking through. The afternoon was fine’, and mentions a visit to Wray Castle, a Lake District property that Potter had first stayed in during her first visit to the Lake District, aged 16.
As a young woman Beatrix Potter made many studies of flowers from nature. She studied natural history with some seriousness, exploring the collections of the Natural History Museum, including the insect cases and fungi specimens. She had a collector’s cabinet full of specimens, from shells to dead butterflies and moths, and used a magnifying glass and a microscope to examine them more closely. She made numerous carefully observed studies of animals and plants from life.
If the date Potter added to this drawing, 21st September 1896, is correct, it must have been made during a stay at Near Sawrey, the Lake District; if this is the case the verso inscription mentioning Winchelsea in Sussex relates to a different drawing. In her journal entry for that date, Potter wrote: ‘The sun had some hesitation in breaking through. The afternoon was fine’, and mentions a visit to Wray Castle, a Lake District property that Potter had first stayed in during her first visit to the Lake District, aged 16.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | A pansy plant with buds |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour drawing of a pansy plant with buds by Beatrix Potter, 21 September 1896; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.233 |
| Physical description | Study of a pansy plant with buds |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Marks and inscriptions |
|
| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Drawn by Beatrix Potter on 21 September 1896. 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. As a young woman Beatrix Potter made many studies of flowers from nature. She studied natural history with some seriousness, exploring the collections of the Natural History Museum, including the insect cases and fungi specimens. She had a collector’s cabinet full of specimens, from shells to dead butterflies and moths, and used a magnifying glass and a microscope to examine them more closely. She made numerous carefully observed studies of animals and plants from life. If the date Potter added to this drawing, 21st September 1896, is correct, it must have been made during a stay at Near Sawrey, the Lake District; if this is the case the verso inscription mentioning Winchelsea in Sussex relates to a different drawing. In her journal entry for that date, Potter wrote: ‘The sun had some hesitation in breaking through. The afternoon was fine’, and mentions a visit to Wray Castle, a Lake District property that Potter had first stayed in during her first visit to the Lake District, aged 16. |
| 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.29; no.233
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.29; no.233 |
| Other number | LB.233 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | BP.363 |
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| Record created | February 17, 2017 |
| Record URL |
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