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1 of 253523 objects
Alexander Marshal (c. 1620-82)
Peonies, turban ranunculus and tulip c. 1650-82
Watercolour | 46.0 x 33.2 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 924340
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A page of watercolours of four flowers including a Tulip with two of its petals fallen on the ground, two Peonies - one pink and the other deep red and a striped Ranunculus. Peonies have been known in England since at least the tenth century, and may be native. In 1629 John Parkinson remarked that they were valued ‘for the beauty and delight of their goodly flowers, as well as for their Physicall vertues [i.e. their medicinal properties]’. Marshal often recorded imperfect specimens, and here two dropped petals from the overblown tulip appear to lie on the lower left.
Provenance
Presented to George IV
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour
Measurements
46.0 x 33.2 cm (sheet of paper)
Other number(s)
RL 24340Featured in
ExhibitionAmazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery: The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace
Drawings illustrating the development of European knowledge