Lady Elizabeth Parker Fane Botanical Album: Finding Aid mssHM
84101
Gayle M. Richardson
The Huntington Library
August 2022
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Lady Elizabeth Parker Fane botanical album
Creator:
Fane, Elizabeth Parker, Lady, 1751-1829
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 84101
Physical Description:
0.83 Linear Feet
(1 volume)
Date (inclusive): 1765-1767
Abstract: A botanical album containing 25
watercolor paintings created by Lady Elizabeth Parker Fane in the 18th century.
Language of Material: Materials are in English and
Latin.
Conditions Governing Access
RESTRICTED. Available with curatorial approval. Requires extended retrieval and delivery
time. Please view digital surrogate.
Conditions Governing Use
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Lady Elizabeth Parker Fane botanical album, The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased for the Huntington from Maggs Bros. Ltd., by the Library Collectors' Council,
March 2022.
Custodial History
The botanical album has been held in the library at Shirburn Castle since it was created;
it was lastly owned by the 9th Earl of Macclesfield.
Biographical / Historical
Lady Elizabeth Parker Fane (1751-1829) was born in Shirburn Castle, Watlington,
Oxfordshire, the family seat of the Earls of Macclesfield; she was the daughter of Thomas
Parker, 3rd Earl of Macclesfield, and Mary Parker, the daughter of Sir William Heathcote,
1st Baronet. In 1773, Elizabeth Parker married John Fane (1751-1824) and together they had
six children; their home was in Wormsley, near Watlington, Oxfordshire. John Fane was a Tory
politician who represented Oxfordshire in eight successive Parliaments; he was also the
president of the Oxfordshire Agriculture Society. While still a teenager, Lady Elizabeth was
taught botanical illustration by Georg Ehret, a German who arrived in England in 1736, he
was considered the pre-eminent botanical draughtsman of the eighteenth century. Ehret taught
both Lady Elizabeth and her mother, Mary Parker, Countess of Macclesfield. In the eighteenth
century, botanical illustration was deemed essential education for aristocratic women and
both women became expert amateurs. Lady Elizabeth died in June 1829.
Scope and Contents
A botanical album created by Lady Elizabeth Parker Fane; she started painting the
illustrations in this album in 1765 which means she was just 14 years old when she began.
Flower painting had become a fashionable occupation for the wives and daughters of the great
houses of England and Elizabeth Parker Fane achieved exceptional ability under the tutelage
of Georg Ehret. The album contains 25 watercolor and gouache paintings on parchment;
depicted are both sides of the plant's leaves and also shown are more than one reproductive
stage for each specimen: with the early formation of the blossom, the growing petals, and
the full expression of the flower. The images in the album depict numerous plant specimens,
sometimes with butterflies and other insects, most likely local to the Macclesfield estate,
Shirburn Castle, in Oxfordshire. Only a small number of the paintings contain titles, though
a few are dated by the artist. The 25 paintings are laid into the volume and the remaining
pages are blank. The album is bound in a contemporary, richly gilt morocco wallet binding,
with a green silk chemise to wrap top and lower edges; the binding was done by an
unidentified binder. The album has a lock and key fastening, though the lock has been
deactivated, the key is kept with the companion volume mssHM 84100.
Processing Information
The album was cataloged by Gayle M. Richardson in August 2022.
Related Materials
Mary Parker, Countess of Macclesfield, botanical album, 1756-1767 (mssHM 84100).
Existence and Location of Copies
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Botanical illustrations -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Botany -- Pictorial works -- Early works to 1800
Women art students -- Education -- Great Britain -- 18th
century
Women illustrators -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Botanical illustrations -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Pictorial albums -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Scientific illustrations (images) -- Great Britain -- 18th
century
Watercolors (paintings) -- Great Britain -- 18th century
Ehret, Georg Dionysius,
1708-1770
Macclesfield, Mary Parker, Countess of, approximately
1726-1812
Botanical album
1765-1767
Scope and Contents
The paintings listed below were identified both by the dealer who sold this album to
the Huntington, as well as briefly by three of the Huntington's botanical curators. A
number of the identifications are necessarily speculative and might prove incorrect or
warrant greater details to identify some of the flowers to the specific level.
Page 1
[Lime flower]
Scope and Contents
With Ringlet butterfly.
Page 2
[Cyclamen]
Scope and Contents
With Swallowtail butterfly.
Page 3
[Rowan berries. Sorbus genus]
Page 4
[Bramble with flowers and blackberries]
Scope and Contents
With bug-eaten leaf.
Page 5
[Probably physalis]
Scope and Contents
Not hellebore, as originally described by the dealer.
Page 8
[A plant in the verbascum genus. Mockmullen?]
Page 9
"The Burnet leav'd Rose, E. Parker"
1765 February
Scope and Contents
With Burnet moth.
Page 11
[Red wild rose?]
Scope and Contents
Possibly a little mallow.
Page 12
[Yellow jasmine]
Scope and Contents
Perhaps Jasmina fruticans.
Page 13
[Field bindweed growing amidst wheat]
Scope and Contents
Drawn in summertime, as wheat is in full grain.
Page 15
"Hoary Violet"
Scope and Contents
With butterfly.
Page 18
"Yellow Indian Jasmine E. Parker"
1767 February 27
Scope and Contents
With Red Admiral butterfly.
Page 19
"Punica quæ Malum fert Granatum. Cæsalp. Pomegranate"
Page 20
"Periwinkle with a double flower"
1766 February
Scope and Contents
Huntington botanic curators note it's usually more of a blue color; this is a
cultivated selection.
Page 22
[Rock rose]
Scope and Contents
Cistus / cistacae.
Page 23
[Hawthorn - Crategus genus]
Page 24
[Might be a wild gofrina: ameranthacae; perhaps Gomphrena
globose]
Page 25
[Red and yellow primrose] "E. Parker"
1765 January
