Lot 71: Mrs. Augusta Innes Withers (c. 1793-c. 1865)

Orchidaceae: Cattleya mossiae
signed and dated 'M r s. Withers Del t./1843' (lower right) and inscribed 'Cattleya Mossiae' (lower centre)
pencil and watercolour with gum arabic, heightened with white on Whatman card dated 1842, unframed
23 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. (59.7 x 47 cm.)

William A. McCarty-Cooper.

The Property of a Gentleman
Lots 71-90

The following lots were in the collection of the Reverend John Clowes (1777-1846) from whom they passed by descent to the previous owner. The Reverend Clowes was the second son and eventual heir of Samuel Clowes of Broughton Hall, near Manchester. According to the dedication in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, vol. LXII, December 1846, 'during the last ten or twelve years of his life Clowes occupied himself chiefly with botanical and horticultural pursuits'. He owned one of the finest private collections of orchids in Britain, which, after his death, went to Kew where a new house had been built to accommodate it.

The collection was especially strong in Andean species. Clowesii rosea, Anguloa clowesii, Odontoglossum clowesianum and Miltonia clowesii (lot 81) were named in his honour. Clowes's gardener, William Hammond, compiled A Catalogue of orchidaceous plants in the collection of the Reverend John Clowes which was published in 1842. The copy of the catalogue now at Kew contains, as its frontispiece, a small watercolour of Odontoglossum clowesii (lot 78) by Mrs. E. Powell. This little known botanical artist presumably was commissioned by Clowes to reproduce his orchid collection. Mrs. E. Powell of Higher Broughton exhibited watercolours of flowers, fruit and birds' nests at the Royal Manchester Institution, 1862-7. Many of the drawings have labels printed 'BROUGHTON' attached to the reverse.

The present group of watercolours were bought by the late William A. McCarty-Cooper, who although primarily a collector of modernist works, was fascinated by Orchids as he believed they were 'the only flowers that had a personality'.

We are grateful to Dr. Phillip Cribb of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for identifying the orchids.

Introduced from Venezuela, this orchid was described by Sir William Hooker in Curtis's Botanical magazine, 1838.

Mrs. Augusta Innes Withers (née Baker) was appointed Flower-painter-in-ordinary to Queen Adelaide and later to Queen Victoria. She and Miss Drake illustrated James Bateman's monumental work on orchids, Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala, 1837-41. The present watercolour Cattleya mossiae postdates this publication, although the orchid is reproduced in the book. Mrs. Withers was a noted botanical painter, contributing to Benjamin Maund's Botanist, the Transactions of the Horticultural Society and the Illustrated Bouquet, 1857-63. J.C. Loudon, writing in the Gardener's Magazine in 1831 praised her 'high talents and great industry': 'to be able to draw flowers botanically, and fruit horticulturally, that is, with the characteristics by which varieties and sub varieties are distinguished, is one of the most useful accomplishments of your ladies of leisure, living in the country. It is due to Mrs. Withers of Grove Terrace, Lisson Grove, to state her talents for teaching these objects are of the highest order.'

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