Harriet Scott | Tigridia Pavonia 1865
Harriet Scott (1830-1907)
Tigridia Pavonia (Tiger Flower)
Watercolour and ink on buff drawing board, Embossed lower right.
Sheet size: 18 x 23 cm
Inscribed, signed and dated lower centre.
Harriet Scott, Jan 7th 1865, Ash Island
An excellent example of 19th century Australian botanical painting.
This rare watercolour by Harriet Scott is one of the few remaining signed works in private hands.
$12,500
Harriet Scott (1830-1907)
Helena Scott (1832-1910)
Harriet and Helena Scott were the foremost natural science painters in New South Wales from 1850 until turn of the century, despite being born in an age when female scientific education was limited, women's 'gifts' were to be kept in the private sphere of home and hearth, and the professions were a male preserve. In Australia, as in England, the study of natural history was the pursuit of gentlemen, for whom amassing a collection was a status symbol. Yet, through prodigious talent, Harriet Scott and her younger sister Helena became esteemed as professional artists, brilliant natural history illustrators and meticulous specimen collectors. Contemporaries hailed their contribution to late colonial natural science, yet they were mostly forgotten until the twenty-first century. Extract from The dictionary of Sydney written by Catie Gilchrist 2015
