Elizabeth Blackwell: 18th century pioneer in Art, Botany and Copyright
<p>Determined to clear her husband’s debts, Elizabeth Blackwell devised a plan to raise money. As a girl, she loved plants and had been <a href="https://www.linnean.org/news/2023/01/10/a-curious-herbal-as-material-witness" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">taught to draw by her father, the artist Leonard Simpson</a>. Using these skills, she created detailed illustrations of medicinal plants — she drew and engraved them and hand coloured the prints — and issued them in instalments of four plates a week. Over four years, she produced 500 accurate engravings of species grown in <a href="https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Chelsea Physic Garden</a> by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. These included specimens brought back from the Americas by <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/sir-hans-sloane" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Sir Hans Sloane</a>. To ensure access to the plants while they were still fresh, she moved into a house on Swan Walk adjacent to the garden.</p>
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