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ScienceBotanical/biological illustrationsLife and Living…Working Scientifically… People have been recording and using plants as illustrations for as long as they have been making marks on wood and stone. Botanical illustrations as we know them today began in the early sixteenth century. The work of early botanical illustrators such as Hans Weiditz and Leonhart Fuchs set the foundations for modern standards Botanical illustration has been affected by a variety of evolving techniques, including etching, photography, colour printing and the electron microscope. Despite these modern techniques, botanical illustration remains a valid method of recording botanical specimens. Today, artists such as Celia Rosser, at Monash University, and Helen Fitzgerald from Queanbeyan NSW continue this tradition. Ask students to research the way technological advances have affected botanical illustrations and to list as many of those advances as they can. Ask students to discuss the impact each of these advances has had on botanical illustrations.
Classification of specimensLife and Living…Working Scientifically… The classification of plant and animal species has a long and fascinating history. A Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linne), introduced a system of classification of plants based on their sexual organs. His ground-breaking work, Systema Naturae (1735) classified living things into genus and species and then to related classes. This system was more useful than the previous systems as it was relatively simple and practical. When did the classification of plants and animals start? Why did people start classifying plants and animals? How has the science of classification changed over time? Why has it changed? Have students collect a flowering plant sample and classify the specimen. Discuss what makes a botanical illustration as opposed to a pretty picture of a flower. Draw a scientific representation of the specimen. Discuss why Ellis Rowan submitted her works as scientific illustrations. Using the botanical illustration students have completed, have them name and label the parts of the flower.
What makes a true botanical illustration?Life and Living…Working Scientifically… Botanical illustrations have changed with fashion. At times, the focus of botanical illustrations has been a bland scientific illustration of the plant with little or no attempt to make the illustration aesthetically pleasing. At other times, the emphasis has been on the artistic merit of the illustration, possibly to the detriment of accuracy. Today, artists combine the two methods, balancing a fine attention to detail with beauty of form. Discuss with students the difference between an artistic work and a botanical illustration. Have students collect a flowering specimen and complete a botanical illustration of the specimen paying particular attention to flowering parts. Science The Arts SOSE Health/PE English
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