Author Archives: carolinemmurray

Anna Maria Garthwaite

Posted on 04/11/2020 by carolinemmurray

It is a well-known fact that the Spitalfields district of London was, during the eighteenth century, entirely populated by French Huguenot refugees, all busy weaving away in their loft workshops, producing gorgeous silks for worldwide trade, and breeding auriculas and … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged Anna Maria Garthwaite, silk-weaving, Simon Julins, Spitalfields, Vincent Bacon | 4 Comments

Ole Worm

Posted on 09/10/2020 by carolinemmurray

I was prone to nominative determinism for more than half a century before I knew what it meant. A children’s biography of Grieg in my primary school library (who now remembers this series by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliography, Biography, Botany, Cambridge, History, Natural history, Printing and Publishing, The Netherlands | Tagged botany, cabinet of curiosities, Copenhagen, medicine, natural philosophy, Ole Worm | 4 Comments

Lepanto

Posted on 07/10/2020 by carolinemmurray

On 7 October every year, I remind my faithful Twitter followers of the anniversary of the battle of Lepanto in 1571, at which the Ottoman Turkish fleet was comprehensively defeated by the combined forces of the Holy League – the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, History, Italy, Literature, Museums and Galleries, Venice | Tagged galleys, Holy League, Lepanto, Pius V, sea battle, Sebastiano Venier, Venice | 7 Comments

Plant of the Month: September 2020

Posted on 28/09/2020 by carolinemmurray

Given that the Equinox has just happening, and that it has just come to my attention (belatedly, I concede) that we ought to be calling a large number of asters Symphyotrichum instead, I thought I’d have a look at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Gardens, Natural history | Tagged aster, gardens, Michaelmas daisy, taxonomy | 2 Comments

Samuel Egerton

Posted on 17/09/2020 by carolinemmurray

We were having a nice mooch round the (startlingly quiet) Ca’ Rezzonico Museum in Venice a few days ago, when I noticed, among the various local grandees immortalised in oil or pastels, a portrait of Samuel Egerton (1711–80). There was … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Italy, Museums and Galleries, Printing and Publishing, Venice | Tagged Bartolomeo Nazari, Joseph Smith, Samuel Egerton, Samuel Wyatt, Tatton Park, Venice | Leave a comment

Plant of the Month: August 2020

Posted on 26/08/2020 by carolinemmurray

The name ‘acanthus’ was taken by Linnaeus from the Greek ἄκανθος, used by Aristotle among others to mean a prickly Mediterranean plant (today A. mollis), imitated in the Corinthian columns of Greek architecture; the related ἄκανθα means ‘thistle’. The family … Continue reading →

Posted in Botany, Cambridge, Gardens, History, Italy, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | 5 Comments

The Unhappy Countess

Posted on 07/08/2020 by carolinemmurray

I was lured into reading about the melodramatic and unhappy life of Mary Eleanor Bowes (1749–1800), by the National Trust, who said, on its website on Gibside, one of her many homes, that she was a botanist. Further investigation revealed … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, Literature, London, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Andrew Robinson Stoney, Bowes Museum, countess of Strathmore, divorce, kidnapping, Mary Eleanor Bowes, Stoney Bowes | 7 Comments

Plant of the Month: July 2020

Posted on 26/07/2020 by carolinemmurray

The other day, I found myself standing under a Broussonetia tree in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden (so happily now reopened, though you do have to book), and was reminded of my oft-repeated note to self to find out more … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Art, Botany, Exploration, Gardens, History, Museums and Galleries, Natural history, Printing and Publishing | Tagged barkcloth, botany, Broussonetia, Japan, Pacific islands, paper, paper mulberry | 1 Comment

Object of the Month: July 2020

Posted on 24/07/2020 by carolinemmurray

This was going to be Object of the Month for November 2019, but various unfortunate events from a database problem up to Covid-19 have rather got in the way. However, onwards and upwards!

Posted in Art, Biography, History, London, Museums and Galleries | Tagged Caroline of Brunswick, George IV, Lord Brougham, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Thomas Denham | 2 Comments

Captain Gurle

Posted on 03/07/2020 by carolinemmurray

I came across the name of Captain Gurle (also spelled Garle and Garrle) in the excellent Economic History of the English Garden, by Sir Roderick Floud, a really cracking book, with eye-opening figures about the importance of gardening in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Botany, Gardens, History, London, Museums and Galleries, Natural history | Tagged fruit trees, gardens, Leonard Gurle, Leonard Meager, London, nursery, plants | 7 Comments