Charlotte Caroline Sowerby (1820–1865) (sometimes C.C. Sowerby) was a 19th-century British scientific illustrator and a member of the extensive Sowerby family of naturalist-illustrators.
Charlotte Caroline Sowerby was the oldest daughter of conchologist and illustrator George Brettingham Sowerby I and granddaughter of the naturalist and illustrator James Sowerby. [1] [2] Like her father and grandfather, she became a natural history illustrator. Not much is known of her life, but experts consider her illustrations to be of the highest quality. [3]
Some of her work is included in the now-rare book The Illustrated Bouquet (E.G. Henderson & Son, 1857–1864), which includes images by a number of the best-known botanical artists of the period, including Augusta Innes Withers. [1] [4] [5] Most of the plates in the book are by Sowerby, starting with Plate 10, [6] and range from clematis, dianthus, petunia, and calceolaria to the Australian wildflower Sturt's desert pea ( Swainsona formosa, formerly Clianthus dampieri). [7] One illustration of gladiolus takes up a two-page spread. [3]
She also contributed 12 plates to Edward Hamilton's Flora Homeopathica (1852–53). [1]
Although most of Sowerby's known works are botanical illustrations, there is extant an 1854 watercolor by her of a quartz crystal with asbestos inclusions, apparently drawn from a specimen in her family's collection. [8] There are also three drawings of volcanoes made for George Julius Poulett Scrope. [8]
She is buried in a family grave on the west side of Highgate Cemetery with her father George Brettingham Sowerby I and brother George Brettingham Sowerby II.
In 1997, a detail of Sowerby's watercolor of Guzmania splendens was included in a British stamp issue. [9]
Charlotte Caroline Sowerby (1820–1865) (sometimes C.C. Sowerby) was a 19th-century British scientific illustrator and a member of the extensive Sowerby family of naturalist-illustrators.
Charlotte Caroline Sowerby was the oldest daughter of conchologist and illustrator George Brettingham Sowerby I and granddaughter of the naturalist and illustrator James Sowerby. [1] [2] Like her father and grandfather, she became a natural history illustrator. Not much is known of her life, but experts consider her illustrations to be of the highest quality. [3]
Some of her work is included in the now-rare book The Illustrated Bouquet (E.G. Henderson & Son, 1857–1864), which includes images by a number of the best-known botanical artists of the period, including Augusta Innes Withers. [1] [4] [5] Most of the plates in the book are by Sowerby, starting with Plate 10, [6] and range from clematis, dianthus, petunia, and calceolaria to the Australian wildflower Sturt's desert pea ( Swainsona formosa, formerly Clianthus dampieri). [7] One illustration of gladiolus takes up a two-page spread. [3]
She also contributed 12 plates to Edward Hamilton's Flora Homeopathica (1852–53). [1]
Although most of Sowerby's known works are botanical illustrations, there is extant an 1854 watercolor by her of a quartz crystal with asbestos inclusions, apparently drawn from a specimen in her family's collection. [8] There are also three drawings of volcanoes made for George Julius Poulett Scrope. [8]
She is buried in a family grave on the west side of Highgate Cemetery with her father George Brettingham Sowerby I and brother George Brettingham Sowerby II.
In 1997, a detail of Sowerby's watercolor of Guzmania splendens was included in a British stamp issue. [9]