Drawing from the Kew and Shirley Sherwood collections, Treasures of Botanical Art reveals the history of botanical painting, a genre devoted to beauty and science in equal measure. With its origins in fifteenth-century illustrations used to explain the medicinal and culinary uses of plants, botanical art has become an integral and captivating component of botanical science. To fully illuminate this history, the book presents more than two hundred stunning botanical paintings dating back to the fifteenth century. Paintings featured from the Kew collection include works by well-known artists the Bauer brothers, Redouté, Ehret, Fitch, Lilian Snelling and Margaret Mee as well as many lesser known artists. Contemporary works featured from the Sherwood collection by a host of international artists round out this impressive history.

Informative text on the origins, history, and relevance of botanical art, as well as information on the plants themselves, accompanies these stunning images. Biographies of more than 120 artists are provided at the end of the book, revealing the historical and international background of this genre.