Botanical illustration is the art of depicting the form, color, and details of plant species. They are generally meant to be scientifically descriptive about subjects depicted and are often found printed alongside a botanical description in books, magazines, and other media. Some are sold as artworks. Often composed by a botanical illustrator in consultation with a scientific author, their creation requires an understanding of plant morphology and access to specimens and references.
American Turk's cap Lily, Lilium superbum, Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-70), About 1750–53, Watercolor and gouache on vellum V&A Museum no. D.589-1886
Banksia coccinea from Ferdinand Bauer's 1813 work Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae
Blackberry. Vienna Dioscurides, early sixth century
Tuft of Cowslips (1526) by Albrecht Dürer, gouache on vellum, collection of the National Gallery of Art
Watercolor or watercolour, also aquarelle, is a painting method in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-based solution. Watercolor refers to both the medium and the resulting artwork. Aquarelles painted with water-soluble colored ink instead of modern water colors are called aquarellum atramento by experts. However, this term has now tended to pass out of use.
An artist working on a watercolor using a round brush
Love's Messenger, an 1885 watercolor and tempera by Marie Spartali Stillman
Albrecht Dürer, Young Hare, 1502, watercolor and body color, Albertina, Vienna
Thomas Girtin, Jedburgh Abbey from the River, 1798–99, watercolor on paper