The florilegium was commissioned by Mary Somerset, the first Duchess of Beaufort between 1703 and 1707. Mary Beaufort was a passionate gardener and her gardens at Badminton and Beaufort House, London, were recorded in several well-known views published in Knyff and Kip’s Britannia Illustrata. Interested in plants and gardens from an early age, after her second marriage to Henry Somerset, first Duke of Beaufort, in 1657, she oversaw the planting of the extensive gardens seen in Knyff and Kip’s engraved views. But it was after her husband died when the Duchess was in her seventies, that she threw herself even more fully into the collecting and rearing of plants from all over the world.

In order to record permanently her horticultural successes, the duchess commissioned a florilegium from a Dutch artist, Everhard Kick, who had previously worked for her friend, Sir Hans Sloane in London. Kick, whose work was continued by Daniel Frankcom, a member of the duchess’s household, developed an idiosyncratic style in which he showed the roots of plants growing beneath the ground. The online Gardens Trust talk on February 27 at 2 pm Eastern will discuss Mary Beaufort as a gardener and highlight some of the contents of her remarkable flower book. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards. Register through Eventbrite HERE.