Winged passionflower (Passiflora alata)

Sydenham Teak Edwards British, born Wales

1799

Not on view

Born in Wales, Edwards moved to London in 1788 to design illustrations for Edward Curtis’s recently launched Botanical Magazine; or, Flower Garden Displayed. In this later work, he applied gouache to vellum to describe a South American passionflower, a combination favored by botanical artists since the Middle Ages as it allows for fine detail. The decision to place the subject against a developed landscape was probably influenced by Dr. Robert Thornton’s Temple of Flora (1799–1807). Edwards designed images for that groundbreaking series of colored aquatints, which use a similar format and were intended to illustrate Carl Linnaeus’s teachings about floral reproduction. A similar emphasis is placed on the subject’s stamens and pistils here.

Artwork Details

Title: Winged passionflower (Passiflora alata)
Artist: Sydenham Teak Edwards (British (born Wales), Usk 1768–1819 London)
Date: 1799
Medium: Bodycolor (gouache) on vellum
Dimensions: sheet: 10 3/8 x 7 15/16 in. (26.3 x 20.2 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Edward Pearce Casey Fund, 2009
Object Number: 2009.221
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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