Sarah Drake

{{short description|British botanical illustrator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox artist | name = Sarah A. Drake | honorific_suffix = | image = Miss_Sarah_Anne_Drake_1803-1857_John_Lindleys_principal_botanical_artist_from_1832_to_1847.png | caption = Sarah Drake, sketched by [[Sarah Lindley Crease|Sarah Lindley]] or Barbara Lindley, daughters of John Lindley, in November 1847 | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1803|07|24}} | birth_place = [[Skeyton]], [[Norfolk, England]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1857|07|09|1803|07|24}} | death_place = United Kingdom | resting_place_coordinates =  | known_for = [[Botanical art]] | awards =  | website =  }} '''Sarah Anne Drake''' (1803–1857) was an English [[botanical illustrator]] who worked for [[John Lindley]] and collaborated with [[Augusta Innes Withers]], [[Nathaniel Wallich]] and others.

==Biography== Sarah Anne Drake was born in [[Skeyton|Skeyton, England]] on 24 July 1803, the same area of [[Norfolk]] as the London University botanist John Lindley and went to school with Lindley's sister Anne. John Lindley had a particular interest in the illustration of orchids and would eventually invite Sarah Drake to become an illustrator with him and study a variety of plants. As a young woman, she went to [[Paris]], where she probably studied painting as was expected of young women of the day. In 1830 "Ducky" (as she became known) moved into the Lindley home at [[Acton Green, London|Acton Green]] in London. She appears to have had a number of roles in the Lindley home, including that of [[governess]], but eventually took up botanical art, gradually taking over from Lindley the illustration of his botanical publications. She created illustrations for his ''Sertum Orchidaceae'', for example, as well as over 1000 illustrations for the horticultural magazine ''[[The Botanical Register|Edwards's Botanical Register]]'', which Lindley edited from 1829 to 1847. More than 300 of these drawings were of [[orchids]] and Lindley named the [[Western Australian]] [[orchid]] genus ''[[Drakaea]]'' in her honour.<ref name=hh>{{cite book | first = Helen | last = Hewson | year = 1999 | title = Australia: 300 years of botanical illustration | publisher = CSIRO Publishing | location = Collingwood, Victoria | isbn = 0-643-06366-8}}</ref><ref name=jk>Kramer, Jack. ''Women of Flowers: A Tribute to Victorian Women Illustrators''. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1996.</ref><ref name="Hall">{{cite web|title=Women's work - Sarah Drake 1803-1857|url=http://womenswork.lindahall.org/drake1.shtml|publisher=Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology|accessdate=3 November 2017}}</ref><ref name=Hopper>{{cite journal|last1=Hopper|first1=Stephen D.|last2=Brown|first2=Andrew P.|title=A revision of Australia' s hammer orchids (Drakaea: Orchidaceae), with some field data on species-specific sexually deceived wasp pollinators|journal=Australian Systematic Botany|date=2007|volume=20|issue=3|pages=262–264|doi=10.1071/SB06033|bibcode=2007AuSyB..20..252H }}</ref> She also contributed illustrations to the ''[[The Garden (Royal Horticultural Society)|Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London]]''.<ref name="Heald2018">{{cite web |title=HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF LONDON Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London ... [Bound with:] Transactions ... Second Series |url=https://www.donaldheald.com/pages/books/29434/horticultural-society-of-london/transactions-of-the-horticultural-society-of-london-bound-with-transactions-second-series |website=Donald A Heald - rare books, prints and maps |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417105330/https://www.donaldheald.com/pages/books/29434/horticultural-society-of-london/transactions-of-the-horticultural-society-of-london-bound-with-transactions-second-series |accessdate=15 September 2020|archive-date=2018-04-17 }}</ref>

Drake is perhaps best known for her collaboration with [[Augusta Innes Withers]] on the drawings for the monumental ''Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala'' by [[James Bateman (horticulturist)|James Bateman]]. This was elephant folio size (pages about 58 cm (23 inches) long) and issued in parts between 1837 and 1843. She did the drawings for 16 of the 40 drawings while Withers did the others (apart from one by Jane Edwards). The illustrations were enlarged by [[Maxim Gauci]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Orchido-Mania {{!}} Royal Society |url=https://royalsociety.org/blog/2024/03/orchido-mania/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=royalsociety.org |language=en}}</ref> However, Drake also contributed to Lindley's book, ''[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/100912#page/13/mode/1up Ladies' Botany]'' (1834–1837), Nathaniel Wallich's ''[[Plantae Asiaticae Rariores]]'', [[John Forbes Royle]]'s ''Illustrations of the botany and other branches of the natural history of the Himalayan Mountains'' and to ''[[HMS Sulphur (1826)|The Botany of HMS Sulphur]]'' (1836–1842). Most of her imagery laid the groundwork for other drawings to blossom and take inspiration from. Drake’s inherent talent regarding composition and arrangement of her plant specimens helps separate her from others who engaged in botanical illustration. She did not travel abroad and probably went no further than [[Kew Gardens]], the Lindley home or to [[Loddiges]] nursery, which put on a display of orchids especially for her.<ref name=jk/><ref name=ams>Schmidt, Alesandra M., and Trudy B. Jacoby. [http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/exhibitions/3 "Herbs to Orchids: Botanical Illustration in the Nineteenth Century"]. Watkinson Exhibition Catalogs, Paper 3, 1996.</ref><ref name="Kew">{{cite web|last1=Buckley|first1=Julia|title=Miss Drake - a skilled illustrator of orchids|url=https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/miss-drake-illustrator-orchids|publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Kew|accessdate=19 June 2024}}</ref><ref name="Pomeroy">{{cite book|editor-last1=Pomeroy|editor-first1=Jordana |editor-link1=Jordana Pomeroy|title=Intrepid women: Victorian artists travel|date=2005|publisher=Ashgate|location=Aldershot|isbn=9780754650720|pages=71–72}}</ref><ref name="longham">{{cite web|title=Sarah Anne Drake|url=http://www.longham.org.uk/drake.asp|publisher=The Longham Parish Website|accessdate=3 November 2017|archive-date=2 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180902091202/http://longham.org.uk/drake.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Drake's career ended when the ''Botanical Register'' went out of business in 1847. Sarah would end up contributing more than one thousand paintings and drawings in her short career. She returned to Norfolk to care for elderly relatives and moved in with her uncle, Daniel Drake. In 1852 she married John Sutton Hastings, a wealthy farmer. She died on 9 July 1857, [[wikt:putatively|putatively]] from [[diabetes]], but it has been speculated that she may have suffered from [[cumulative poison]]ing from her painting materials. In 2000 a memorial plaque commemorating her work was unveiled at the parish church where she is buried.<ref name=hh/><ref name="Kew" />

{{Gallery |title=Illustrations from ''Sertum Orchidaceum'' |width=160 |height=170 ||''Stanhopea devoniensis'' (now ''[[Stanhopea hernandezii]]'') ||''Cymbidium giganteum'' (now ''[[Eulophia speciosa]]'') |File:Mobot31753000316197 0105.jpg|''[[Cymbidium elegans]]'' }}

{{Gallery |title=Illustrations from ''The Botany of the Voyage of H.M.S. Sulphur'' |width=160 |height=170 |File:Mobot31753000321692 0019.jpg|''Iodidium fruticulosum'' (now ''[[Hybanthus fruticulosus]]'') |File:Mobot31753000321692 0018.jpg|''Krameria parvifolia'' (now ''[[Krameria erecta]]'') |File:Mobot31753000321692 0026.jpg|''Schinus discolor'' (now ''[[Pachycormus discolor]]'') |File:Mobot31753000321692 0022.jpg|''[[Galphimia angustifolia]]'' }}

{{Gallery |title=Illustrations from ''The Orchidology of Mexico and Guatemala'' |width=160 |height=170 |File:Myrmecophila tibicinis (as Schomburgkia tibicinis)-Bateman Orch. Mex. Guat. pl. 30 (1843).jpg|''Schomburgkia tibicinis'' (now ''[[Myrmecophila tibicinis]]'') |File:The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala (Tab. XXXVII) BHL769237.jpg|''[[Sobralia macrantha]]'' }}

{{Gallery |title = Other images by Sarah Drake |width=160 |height=170 |File:Mimulus cardinalis RHS.jpeg|Scarlet monkeyflower (now ''[[Erythranthe cardinalis]]'') |File:Mucuna pruriens RHS.jpeg|Velvet bean (''[[Mucuna pruriens]]'') |File:Laburnocytisus Adami RHS.jpeg|Adam's laburnum (''[[+Laburnocytisus adamii]]'') |File:Edwards's Botanical Register Volume 20 Plate 1728 - Banksia speciosa.jpg|''[[Banksia speciosa]]'' - Plate 1728 of ''Edwards's Botanical Register'', Volume 20, signed "Miss Drake" |File:Stanhopea quadricornis by Sarah Ann Drake. Edwards's Botanical Register vol. 24, t. 5 (1838) (S.A. Drake).tiff|''[[Stanhopea quadricornis]]'' |File:Disocactus speciosus as Cereus speciosissimus, by Sarah Ann Drake. Edwards's Botanical Register vol. 28- t. 49 (1842).tiff|''[[Disocactus speciosus]]'' as ''Cereus speciosissimus'' }}

==Books and magazines which contained her illustrations== *[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/269762 ''Sertum Orchidaceum''] *[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/15471#page/3/mode/1up Bateman, J. ''The Orchidology of Mexico and Guatemala'' (1837–1843)] *[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/780140 ''The Botany of H.M.S. Sulphur'' (1836 - 1842)] *Wallich, N. ''Plantae Asiaticae Rariores'' (1830 - 1832) ([https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/449433 Volume 1], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/451985 Volume 2], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/452176 Volume 3] (note that the plates nominate the lithographer in all cases, and sometimes the various artists) *J. Forbes Boyle (1833-1839) [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2913346 ''Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains''] (note that the plates nominate the lithographer in all cases, and sometimes the various artists) *''[[The Botanical Register|Edwards's Botanical Register]]''<ref name=longham/> *''[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/100912#page/13/mode/1up Ladies' Botany]''

==Honours== [[John Lindley|Lindley]] named the [[Western Australia]]n<ref name=PWO>Govaerts, R. et al. (2018) [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:29346-1 Plants of the world online: ''Drakaea''.] Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 27 October 2018.</ref> [[orchid]] genus, ''[[Drakaea]]'', to honour her.<ref name=anbg>[https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/drake-sarah.html Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Australian National Herbarium, Biographical Notes: Drake, Sarah Ann (1803 - 1857)] Retrieved 27 October 2018.</ref>

==See also== *[[Sarah Lindley Crease]]

==References== {{Reflist}} {{commons category}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, Sarah Ann}} [[Category:1803 births]] [[Category:1857 deaths]] [[Category:British botanical illustrators]] [[Category:British women illustrators]] [[Category:British women botanists]] [[Category:19th-century English women scientists]] [[Category:19th-century British painters]] [[Category:British botanists]] [[Category:British artists]] [[Category:19th-century English women painters]] [[Category:19th-century English painters]] [[Category:19th-century women biologists]]