Florence Woolward

Florence Helen Woolward (1854 Hammersmith – 3 January 1936) was an English botanical illustrator and author, and was commissioned by Schomberg Kerr, 9th Marquess of Lothian to paint his extensive orchid collection, and published in parts between 1891 and 1896 as "The Genus Masdevallia".

She lived in Belton, Lincolnshire, and was commissioned by Schomberg, through the Talbot Sisters, to paint orchids and fungi from Newbattle Abbey and Monteviot House.

Although she received no formal training as an artist or botanist, she completed the project for Schomberg and later worked at the Natural History Museum.

"The Genus Masdevallia" is considered one of the finest illustrated orchid books of the Victorian age.

The Marquess had a passion for orchids, in particular the Andean Masdevallias of which he had a sizeable collection at Newbattle Abbey in Scotland.

Spending some ten years on visits to Newbattle Abbey, Woolward depicted more than 350 orchids, of which 85 were Masdevallias.

[4] In the introduction Woolward writes of her involvement in the book's preparation: "It is no doubt advantageous in botanical work … that the person who makes the original drawing from nature should also lithograph the plates and indicate the colours to be used by the colorist, for, by this means, the work passes through fewer hands and is more likely to turn out accurate.

I have therefore pursued this method throughout the present work, and have, besides, touched up the colouring of every plate sent out, numbering nearly 9,000"[5] Bound volumes of Woolward's paintings of orchids and fungi remain with the heirs of the Marquess.

[6] Belton, Grantham, Lincolnshire February 17th 1891 Dear Consul Lehmann, I send you tracings from my drawings of two species of Masdevallia, for which I much wish to have a note from you, as I intend to substitute them for two of the ten on the list which I sent you in my letters of Dec. 18th and Feb. 2nd.