August
Date1730
Publisher
Robert Furber
(c. 1674 - 1756)
After work by
Peter Casteels
Engraver
Henry Fletcher
OriginEngland, London
MediumLine engraving and etching on laid paper with hand coloring
DimensionsOverall: 17 1/2 × 13 1/4in. (44.5 × 33.7cm)
Other (Plate): 16 1/2 × 12 1/2in. (41.9 × 31.8cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1940-391,A
DescriptionFlowers are individually numbered. Lower margin: "1 Purple Altheaea frutex./ 2 Ivy leav'd Jasmine./ 3 Iris Uvaria./ 4 Purple Sultan./ 5 Purple toad flax./ 6 Purple Amaranthoides./ 7 Double Arabian Jasmine./ 8 Yellow Kelmia/ 9 Purple Coxcomb Amarath./ 10 Shrub S.t Johns wort./ 11 Pona's blew Throat-wort./ 12 Palma Christi./ 13 Purple Convolvuls./ 14 Polyanthos./ 15 Indian yellow Jasmine./ 16 Double flowering Myrtle./ AUGUST/ 17 Egyptian scarlet holly hock./ 18 Yellow strip'd marvel of peru./ 19 Strip'd Monthly rose./ 20 Double fether fen./ 21 Semper Augustus Auricula./ 22 Dwarf Convolvulus./ 23 Willow leav'd Apocynum./ 24 Apios of America./ 25 Virginian flowering Raspberry./ 26 Zisole from Genoa./ 27 Double spanish Jasmine./ 28 White Eternal./ 29 Fruit bearing Passion flower./ 30 Scarlet Althaea./ 31 Canary shrub fox glove./ 32 Long blowing honey suckle./ 33 Double purple Virgins bower./ 34 Virginian scarlet Martyagon./ Design'd by P.tr Casteels./ From the Collection of Rob.t Furber Gardiner at Kensington. 1730./ Engrav'd by H. Fletcher."
Label TextIn 1730, a London nurseryman named Robert Furber advertised that he intended to publish a set of twelve prints, one for each month of the year depicting the flowers that were in bloom for that particular month. The prints were based on paintings by the Flemish artist Pieter Casteels III and engraved by Henry Fletcher. Though beautiful, these prints were not purely decorative, but a cleverly devised marketing scheme to promote Furber’s nursery in Kensington. They were the first illustrated seed catalogue published in England and they launched a flurry of imitations. In his advertisements, Furber promised that there would be upwards of 30 different kinds of flowers per print, with each flower labeled with a number and identified at the bottom of the print. And they were all available for purchase from his nursery. Ultimately, the twelve prints represented nearly 400 different flowering species.
According to Mark Laird this plate includes: "Traditional favorites of the flower garden are mixed with new imports from North America: nos. 4 and 9, top left and right, sweet sultan (Centaurea moschata) and coxcomb (Celosia cristata) - both available since the early 1600s - contrast with no. 34, at right, Virginian scarlet Martagon- probably lilum superbum, introduced in 1727." [Mark Laird, The Flowering of the Landscape Garden: English Pleasure Grounds (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press), 220].
ProvenanceFrom the Collection of Robert Furber, Gardiner at Kensington, 1730.
