I first learned of Mary Delaney’s work thanks to a dear friend on social media, who accurately predicted I would be enchanted by her art. Even more enchanting is the fact that she started making this series of incredibly intricate collages (985 works total!) at the young age of…72!
With just paper and scissors, Delaney meticulously crafted each specimen, sometimes using around 200 petals per flower. She would paint in more detail with watercolor if needed, and the glue used to stick the pieces together was likely egg white, or a paste made from flour and water. I especially love the fact that she included both the common and scientific names of the plants depicted, the date and place they were made, and who donated the specimen.
You can browse the entire collection online via The British Museum, and a few more of my favorites below!
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
