In 1703 Mary Somerset, the first Duchess of Beaufort, commissioned Everard Kik, a Dutch botanical artist, to create a series of paintings showing the extraordinary variety of plants she had grown from seeds sent to her from all over the world. The final collection of 178 paintings, including many by Mary’s footman-turned-artist Daniel Frankcom, and some possibly by Mary herself, were later bound in a two volume album, a “florilegium” which has been kept at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, where Mary lived and grew many of her plants. The florilegium has remained at Badminton for more than 300 years.
Many of the specimens she raised are now stalwarts of British gardening and echoes of her early interests can be seen in the gardens and glass houses at Badminton today, and in our continuing fascination with the botanical world. As she once wrote:
“When I get into stories of plants, I know not how to get out.”
GALLERY
