Mrs. Delany and her Circle

Laird, Mark; Weisberg-Roberts, Alicia

Save Cite Share

BOOKMrs. Delany and her Circle

Mark Laird (Editor), Alicia Weisberg-Roberts (Editor)

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00085

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-19552

At the age of seventy-two, Mary Delany, née Mary Granville (1700–1788), embarked upon a series of nearly a thousand botanical collages, or paper mosaics, which would prove to be the crowning achievement of her rich creative life. These delicate hand-cut floral designs, made by a method of Mrs. Delany’s own invention, vie with the finest botanical works of her time. More than two centuries later her extraordinary work continues to inspire.

Although best known for these collages, Mrs. Delany was also an amateur artist, woman of fashion, and commentator on life and society in 18th-century England and Ireland. Her prolific craft activities not only served to cement personal bonds of friendship, but also allowed her to negotiate the interconnecting artistic, aristocratic, and scientific networks that surrounded her. This ambitious and groundbreaking book, the first to survey the full range of Mrs. Delany’s creative endeavors, reveals the complexity of her engagement with natural science, fashion, and design.

The book includes a video demonstrating some of Mrs. Delany's "paper mosaick" techniques (see chapter 11).

*This eBook is available exclusively on the A&AePortal.*

Author

Mark Laird (Editor), Alicia Weisberg-Roberts (Editor)

PublisherYale Center for British Art

Yale University Press

Print publication date December 2009 (out of print)

Print ISBN 9780300142792

EISBN 9780300252941

Illustrations 289

Print Status out of print

Publisher (out of print)

WorldCat

Google Books

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

Get access

List of illustrations

Magnolia altissima
Wildflowers, a Butterfly and a Fly
Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger) with Tortoiseshell Butterfly
Helleborus niger
Mary Delany (née Granville)
Convallaria majalis
Firescreen
Dr Patrick Delany
Gold box decorated with portraits of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Portland; Elizabeth Montagu; Mary Howard; Lady Andover; and Mary Pendarves
Outline drawings of sprigs of flowers for embroidery
Front petticoat panel, detail from right half
Swift and Swans Island in the Garden of Delville, Dublin
A Cott in Blank – The Peacefull Residence of your Faithful MD, 1744
Garden temple at Delville
A British flora after the sexual system of Linnaeus
Citrus Medica
A Stem of Stock
Portrait of Mrs Delany, born Granville
Flora Attired by the Elements
George III and His Family at Windsor
Moss Province Rose
Nymphæa alba
Parnassia palustris
Papaver Cambricum
Fumaria fungosa
Catesbæa spinosa
Lobelia Cardinalis
Helonias Asphodeloides
Magnolia grandiflora
Mirabilis longiflora
Oenothera grandiflora
Sanguinaria Canadensis
Cynoglossum omphalodes
Arctotis calendulacea
Erica coccinea ?
Cactus grandiflorus ?
Alstromeria Ligtu
Ixia crocata
Geranium fulgidum
Narcissus tazetta var: Polyanthos Narcisse
Pancratium Maritinum
Philadelphus aromaticus
Saxifraga stolonifera
Portlandia grandiflora
Scarlet Geranium & Lobelia Cardinalis
Drawing based on a mantua of c. 1740 in the Welsh Folk Museum
Dress, detail
Textile panel, framed
Chinese wallpaper, surviving in the dressing room, part of a scheme for the Great Apartment at Newhailes
Painted toile, probably commissioned by the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland for Syon House, detail
Temple Flower Garden of Richard Bateman's Grove House, Old Windsor, Berkshire
View of Grotto and Shell Temple at Twickenham, Alexander Pope’s Garden
The Cave at the End of Dovedale, Derbyshire
Reconstruction of an auricula theatre
Specimen of Gomphocarpus fruticosus
Badminton florilegium, detail
A View of the Garden at Carlton House in Pall Mall, A Palace of Her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales
The Royal Gardens of Richmond and Kew, with the Hamlet of Kew, Part of the Royal Manor of Richmond. Taken under the Direction of Peter Burrell Esqr. His Majesty’s Surveyor General by Thos. Richardson 1771
Passiflora Laurifolia
The Artist in His Studio
Mary Granville, Mrs. Delany
The Mall and St. James’s Palace
John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville
The Hon. Georgina Carteret, Later Mrs. John Spencer and Subsequently Lady Cowper
Catherine Douglas (née Hyde), Duchess of Queensberry
Family tree of the Granville, Hyde, and Leveson-Gower families
West End from A Plan of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark, detail
Ten Miles Round London, detail
The Thames from the Terrace of Somerset House, Looking toward Westminster
Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Anspach
Princesses Anne, Amelia, and Caroline
Augusta, Princess of Wales, with Members of Her Family and Household
Patrick Delany
Double Portrait of Bishop Robert Clayton (1695–1758) and his Wife Katherine (née Donnellan) (d.1766)
A View of St. James’s Square London
A Numerical Register of all His Majesty's Houses between St. James's Street & Green Park, etc., 10 April 1769, detail
Silhouettes depicting a game of chess, probably with Thomas Thynne, third Viscount Weymouth, and Elizabeth Thynne, third Viscountess Weymouth, and her children
George III
Frances Boscawen
Queen Charlotte with Members of her Family
Mantua
Left half of the front petticoat panel, detail
Tea Party at Lord Harrington’s House, St. James’s, detail
Giving a HAND in a MINUET
Back petticoat panel
Dress fabric
Panel
Design for woven silk
Mantua
Apron
Stomacher
Dress fabric
Design for woven silk
Workbag
Design for woven silk
Petticoat from a mantua
Mantua
Court dress
Woman’s court dress
Man’s brocaded silk waistcoat
Toasting Muffins, Vide Royal Breakfast
Frying Sprats, Vide Royal Supper
Records of Fashion 1809
The Court at St. James's
A View of the Ball at St. James’s on the King’s Birth Day June 4, 1782
A Peep at the Plenipo-!!!
Inconveniences of a Crowded Drawing Room
Dressing for a Birthday
Sleeve of a woman’s court mantua
Court mantua
Man’s waistcoat, detail
Silk apron, detail
Bodice-Coat Flannel the Bottom Worked
A wooden box, decorated on the outside with paper quill work and watercolors
Ribbon embroidery on the inside of the lid of a workbox
Marquetry workbox
Painted workbox in the shape of a cottage
The Fair Lady Working Tambour
Embroidered linen sheet
Waistcoat panel
Settee seat cover
A frieze of feathers in the drawing room at A la Ronde, Devon
A shell-encrusted surround to a window in the Shell Gallery at A la Ronde, Devon
A shellwork vase
Crewelwork bed curtain, detail
Newark House, Gloucestershire
Hanbury Pools, Worcestershire
Delville fireside 27 Feby 1750/51
Landscape with Le Tombeau de Letitia
Italianate Landscape
Landscape with Ruins
Head of an Old Woman
A View of Bulstrode Park
Portrait of Rosalba Carriera
Rocky Landscape with a Blasted Tree
Title-plate to A New Drawing Book for ye Use of His Royal Highness ye Duke of Cumberland, Their Royal Highness the Princess Mary, and Princess Louisa
A North View of the City of Bath
Rhoda (née Delaval), Lady Astley
Two Chained Hunting Dogs
A Dog Chasing Wild Fowl
A Young Couple Crossing a Stile in a Castle Garden
The Arbour Oak, Bradley, Worcestershire
A Woman Sketching the Lake at Seaforde, County Down
Mary Howard, Viscountess Andover
Three Women and Cow
Woman with Basket or Coracle
A Woman Sketching the Tree-Seat on Wood Island, Hollymount, near Downpatrick, Co. Down
The Evergreen Grove at Delville with Dublin Bay in the Distance
A Closet at Wimbledon Park, Surrey
Design for an Italianate interior
Tribune at Strawberry Hill
Fan, oriental design with rococo
Japanned box
Portland Museum
Aphaca
Hans Sloane plates
View of Dublin Bay from the Bow Window in the Artist's Closet
A Perspective View of the Grotto
Design L
First Duchess of Beaufort’s hortus siccus
Pyrus Cydonia
Fumaria fungosa
Interior of Leverian Museum: View as It Appeared in the 1780s
Unnamed tulip cultivar
Dracæna terminalis
Great Parterre at Longleat, detail
Primula veris
The Beggar's Hut in the Gardens of Delville, Dublin
A Woman Sketching the Improvements in Lord Clarendon's Stone Quarry at Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire
The Chinese Seat at Wroxton Abbey, Oxfordshire
The Cascade at Matlock House, Derbyshire
Prospect of Buenos Aires the seat of Benjamin Hyett Esq. near Panswyke (Painswick House), Gloucestershire
Bouquet of Flowers
Carolina Brown Squirrel with Birds, Butterflies and Flowers
Frontispiece from Robert Furber, Twelve Months of Flowers
Antirrhinum CYMBALARIA
Phallus Found at Bulstrode Nov. 12 1763 (Sketch 229/230)
Lathyrus nissolia, Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, Linum perenne, Lysimackia nemorum
A spray of Lathyrus nissolia, Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, Linum perenne, Lysimachia nemorum, Adonis annua and a small tortoiseshell butterfly
A Cabbage-Leaf Filled with Field-Flowers
Astrantia major and Reseda odorata (Mignonette)
Echinopus major I.B.
Papaver Cambricum
Magnolia grandiflora, detail
Amygdalus Persica
Phlox suaveolens
Phlox suaveolens
Strelitzia Reginae
The Bridge and Grotto at Calwich House, Staffordshire
Grotto in the Park at Bulstrode
A Modern Lady
Snuffbox
Hostess at Leicester [with] A green drake Fly
Stomacher
Tab. 10 from Plantae et papiliones rariores
Frontispiece to Dissertatio de generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium, 2nd ed.
One of a pair of candelabra
Bulstrode
Tab. 15 from The Natural History of Many Curious and Uncommon Zoophytes…
Madrepora pileus
Plate XXXII from Flora Scotica; or, A Systematic Arrangement, in the Linnaean Method of the Native Plants of Scotland and the Hebrides, vol. 2
Mountain Hawksweed, with a Snail and Three Insects
Decorative second title page of vol. II of Icones fungorum circa Halifax sponte nascentis
Checkered Mitre Mitra Tessellata rrr [ = very rare] Duchs Dowar of Portland
Cymbiola aulica aulica
Polymita picta
Java Hare drawn from the Life by Mrs. Delany at Bulstrode 1755
Fort St. Davids Bull - drawn from the Life by Mrs. Delany at Bulstrode 1755
The Secretary
Self-Portrait
Tabella of Linnaeus’s Sexual System
Yucca aloifolia
The Revd John Lightfoot
Dr. John Fothergill
William Aiton
Daniel Carlsson (later Charles) Solander (1733–1782), Sir Joseph Banks’s Assistant and Later Librarian
Primula Veris elatior
Ophris apifera
Ophrys apifera
Geranium fulgidum
Pelargonium quercifolium
Calceolaria Fothergilea
Calceolaria Fothergillii
Olea odoratissima Soland
Dr. William Pitcairn
Ipomœa rubra
Quamoclit pennatum, erectum, floribus in thyrsum digestis
Lobelia pubescens
Ocymum rugosum
A Numerical Register of all His Majesty's Leasehold Houses...Between St. James's Street and Green Park, etc. 10 April 1769, detail
A General View of the Roads of England and Wales
Rubus fruticosus
View of Coach Travelling to West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
View of Portland Bill, Dorset
Crinum africanum
Rubus fruticosus
Map of routes from London to Luton Hoo
Map of routes from London to Luton Hoo
Lathyrus Sativus
Eryngium alpinum
Twenty-Five Miles Round London
Amaryllis Regis
Amaryllis ? attamyasco
Geranium Inquinans, detail
Geranm: Peltatum
Geranm: trigonum
Geranium macrorhizon
Inscription on Booth Grey album pastedown, detail
Geranium Macrorrhisum
Completed reconstruction of Geranium Macrorrhisum
Narcissus Poeticus
Completed reconstruction of Narcissus Poeticus
Needlework pocket-book
Flower, Geranium Macrorrhisum, detail
Leaf, Geranium Macrorrhisum, detail
Shagreen-covered pocket case with complete set of instruments including silver-mounted pencil
Bleed over and pin mark on verso of Geranium Macrorrhisum, detail
Collage-making process: Making watercolors (mixing pigment with gum arabic solution)
Collage-making process: Drawing collage elements
Collage-making process: Painting collage elements
Collage-making process: Cutting collage elements with scissors
Collage-making process: Attaching collage elements using tweezers
Collage-making process: Rubbing down collage elements using bone folder
Passiflora Laurifolia, detail
A Paper Mill with the Men at Work
Photomicrograph, taken in polarised light, of a blend of well-beaten linen rag fibre and hemp fibre, probably derived from sailcloth
Trade card for Dorothy Mercier, Printseller and Stationer
G watermark in Mary Delany’s Geranium fulgidum
Posthorn / 4 / L V GERREVINCK watermark in Mary Delany’s Amaryllis Beladonna
Simple fleur-de-lys watermark in Mary Delany's Amaryllis Belladonna Reginæ; countermark TF, with damaged letter F, in Mary Delany's Antirrhinum Genistifolium
Fleur-de-lys / GR watermark, from an unidentified maker, in Mary Delany’s Cleome Pentaphylla ?
Excise Duty Charge Stamp on Mary Delany’s Ludwigia ovata; Verso of Mary Delany’s Lightfootia canescens
Incomplete Frame Mark, one of four different Excise Duty Stamps found on wallpapers
Incomplete Frame Mark and Charge Mark
First Account Taken Stamp
Raking-light of Mary Delany’s Viola Calcarata, detail
Plate 24 of Art de faire le papier à la Chine: Les explications ont été envoyées en 1775 à m. de la Tour, par le P. Benoist missionaire Jésuite mort à Pékin
Liriodendron Tulipifera, detail
Ilex aquifolium
Pelargonium subcœruleum
Fumaria Fungosa
The traditional method of drying a newly formed sheet of handmade paper is to hang it over a rope, which results in a crease along the center of the sheet
Delville, east façade with bow window
Lime walk to garden temple, Delville
Marianna
Marianna
Marianna
Marianna
Title page, A Catalogue of Plants Copyed from Nature in Paper Mosaick, Finished in the Year 1778, and Disposed in Alphabetical Order According to the Generic and Specific Names of Linnaeus

Free