- Museum number
- 1977,0122.1
- Description
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Lesser Celandine (or pilewort or Ranunculus ficaria); with yellow flowers. 1915
Watercolour
Verso: Royal court scene; King and Queen enthroned and surrounded by other figures
Graphite, with blue chalk
- Production date
- 1915
- Dimensions
-
Height: 389 millimetres
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Width: 288 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- This work is one of three watercolours by John Nash in the museum's collection. The two other works are the landscapes 'Path through the forest' (1989,0930.251) and 'Changing Currents' (1936,0613.21.+). 'Lesser Celandine' is particularly interesting because it demonstrates two of the artist's main interests throughout his career: nature and humour. The recto shows a detailed study of a plant which an accompanying inscription identifies as 'The Pilewort' while the verso shows a rough sketch of one of the humorous drawings Nash loved.
John Nash was born in London in 1893, the second of three children. In 1901, due to his wife's failing health, John's father, Harry Nash, moved his family from London to Iver Heath in the Buckinghamshire countryside. This move had a fundamental impact on the lives of all three children who dedicated their careers to this newfound nature. Barbara, the youngest, became a gifted gardener, Paul, the eldest, became a famous landscape artist (for further information on Paul Nash see the curatorial comment for 1958,0303.1) and John, at his brother's urging, followed in his footsteps.
The watercolour is inscribed 'The Pilewort' and dated 1915. It is one of the artist's earlier botanical drawings, a recurrent subject in Nash's works throughout his life. In an undated letter to Edward Bawden, Nash explains that 'for years I have tried, not without some success, to be both a professional painter and an amateur gardener' (Rothenstein, p. 97). It is not surprising that the artist would feel the need to combine these two great passions. Indeed, Nash eventually came to refer to himself as an 'artist-plantsman' and even titled his last living solo exhibition, which took place in 1976 at Anthony d'Offay's gallery and where the present work was exhibited and acquired by the Museum, 'The Artist Plantsman.'
Nash was first introduced to the world of plants by his nurse and a few elderly neighbours at Iver Heath. His interest grew and, alongside his landscapes and comic drawings, he studied and sketched botanical specimens. His ability was such that he won the Botany Prize at Wellington College (Berkshire), the military academy he attended between 1910 and 1912. John Lewis later explained in his introduction to Nash's 1967 exhibition that 'if John Nash had never painted a landscape, his reputation as a botanical draughtsman would have made secure his claim to fame' (p. 42). Nash's wood engravings are among his most famous botanical compositions. In 1919, after serving as a war artist, John became interested in book-illustration and took up wood engraving, producing 47 illustrative works before his death. More than 21 of the books he illustrated concerned Natural History, including 'Poisonous Plants' (1927), from which two wood engravings are currently in the Museum's collections ('Arum' 1930,0111.132 and 'Spurge Laurel' 1949,0411.2048 ), 'Flowers and Faces' (1935) and 'English Garden Flowers' (1948). The artistic community respected his skills and, in 1958, even though he had never had any formal artistic training, he was asked to teach annual plant illustration courses at the Flatford Mill Field Centre.
Nash's humorous drawings were mainly inspired by Edward Lear's comic illustrations of his Nonsense Verses which he had given to Nash's aunt, the Hon. Augusta Bell, whom he had greatly loved. John's comic sketches played a vital role in the artist's career for, according to Paul, it was through them that, in 1912, he realised his brother's true artistic talent: 'About this time [1912] John began to make what was known in the family as 'comic drawings'. They were quite casual at first, drawn on odd pieces of paper usually from father's revision books in pen and ink and consisted of various sorts of ludicrous happenings [...] Gradually these drawings took on a more purposeful look. Watching them closely as I did I became aware of something more than the original 'comic' vision which Jack undoubtedly possessed. They began to show an intrinsic sense of plan and decoration. More than this, the incidental features of the comic events, specifically forms of natural objects in the landscape [...] seemed to be drawn with an intuitive understanding which made them extraordinarily convincing.' (Rothenstein, p. 10-11). He immediately urged his brother to give up his apprenticeship at the 'Middlesex & Buckinghamshire Advertiser' to try his hand at landscape painting and John, as he later recalled 'at once agreed, and set about making a landscape in watercolour as well as more comic drawings' (Rothenstein, p. 12). Though not as famous as his landscapes, Nash never gave up his humorous sketches which abound in his letters as well as in some of his book illustrations.
Further reading:
John Lewis, 'John Nash, the painter as illustrator', Godalming, 1978.
Sir John Rothenstein, 'John Nash', London, 1983.
[This entry was written by Catherine Boël, Anne Christopherson Fellow in the Department of Prints and Drawings, February 2016.]
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1976, Nov-Dec, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, no 22
1979, BM, Flowers in art from East and West, J4.
- Acquisition date
- 1977
- Acquisition notes
- This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1977,0122.1