A New Flowering: 1000 Years of Botanical Art

Featuring one thousand years of botanical art, this catalogue represents the Ashmolean's leading exhibition of 2005, providing the unique opportunity to compare illustrations by contemporary artists alongside remarkable botanical art pf the past.

Chosen by Dr Shirley Sherwood from her acclaimed collection of botanical paintings by artists worldwide, and from the rich historical treasures of Oxford libraries and museums, such as the Flora Graeca by Ferdinand Bauer, one of Oxford's greatest treasures, these inspiring images stand at the interface between art and science.

Shirley Sherwood was born in England and was educated in Oxford. Her comprehensive collection of over 200 botanical artists from thirty countries documents the emergence of a new wave of botanical painting and the Renaissance of this art form. Dr Sherwood is Vice Chairman of the Botanical Painting Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, London, on the board of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington and an honorary trustee of the American Society for Botanical Artists. Her books Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection (1996) and A Passion for Plants (2001) have become key handbooks for today's botanical artists.