Mary Emily Eaton (27 November 1873 – 4 August 1961) was an English botanical artist best known for illustrating Britton &

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

's ''

The Cactaceae ''The Cactaceae'' is a monograph on plants of the cactus family written by the American botanists Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose and published in multiple volumes between 1919 and 1923. It was landmark study that extensively reor ...

'', published between 1919 and 1923.

Life

Mary Emily Eaton was born on 27 November 1873 in

Coleford, Gloucestershire Coleford is a market town in the west of the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, east of the Welsh border and close to the Wye Valley. It is the administrative centre of the Forest of Dean district. The combined population of the town's ...

. She attended private schools in London and received formal tuition in art at the Taunton School of Art, also attending classes at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

, and the Chelsea Polytechnic. She worked for a time as a painter of

Worcester porcelain Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown ...

, before going to

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

in 1909 to visit her siblings. During her two-years stay, she began painting detailed studies of butterflies and moths. In June 1911 Eaton left for

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where she would remain until January 1932, employed by

The New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a ...

. Among other duties, she was the principal illustrator for the Botanical Garden's journal ''

Addisonia ''Addisonia'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Addisoniidae. Description The ovate shell has a subconical shape. It is strongly symmetrical, porcellaneous, and thin. The blunt apex is curved backward, downward, ...

'', painting over three-quarters of the 800 plates. She was the principal illustrator for Britton & Rose's monumental work ''

'', and her illustrations also appeared in the

National Geographic Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

. Contemporary authorities rated her work very highly, one source calling her "the greatest of living wildflower painters" and another stating that one could not fully appreciate her talent from the sometimes mediocre reproductions of her work in ''Addisonia'' and other publications. She was awarded the silver-gilt Grenfell Medal of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

twice, first in 1922 and again in 1950. In 1932, due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, Eaton lost her position at the Botanic Garden, after which she struggled to find enough work in America. In 1947, she returned to England, where she died on 4 August 1961 in

Cossington, Somerset Cossington is a village and civil parish close to Woolavington and north of Bridgwater, in Somerset, England. The village lies on the north side of the Polden Hills. Its population in 2021 was 640. History It was probably part of the anci ...

. Many of her paintings are at the

British Museum of Natural History The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

. The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation also has a number of her works. Over six hundred of her watercolours are part of the permanent collections of the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

References

External links

''Cacti'' - Nathaniel Lord Britton, Joseph Nelson RoseNew York Botanic Garden broadcast
6.19 - 14.10 min 12 March 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Mary Emily 1873 births 1961 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Alumni of the Royal College of Art British botanical illustrators English women painters 20th-century British women painters