Showcasing Kew's collections

Art and illustrations collections

Kew's Library has more than 200,000 watercolours, prints and drawings, including original works of art in various media. These range in date from the great masters of botanical illustration of the 18th century, such as G.D. Ehret, P.J. Redouté and the Bauer brothers, through to Thomas Duncanson, George Bond and Walter Hood Fitch in the 19th century. The collections also include the work of 20th century contributors such as Lilian Snelling, Stella Ross-Craig, Mary Grierson and Margaret Stones, together with the work of present-day artists Christabel King, Ann Farrer and Pandora Sellars.

Please click on the links below to view some items from Kew's collections in more detail.

Art on Demand

Prints from the Kew Collection are available to buy. For more information click here.

Illustration Collection

For a description of the illustration collections we hold at Kew, please see: Ward, M. & Flanagan, J. (2003): Portraying plants - illustrations collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Download a pdf of this article now.

Read an article by Kew's Christopher Mills on how the work of three intrepid women artist-explorers advanced our understanding of the natural world. 'No Shrinking Violets', Art Quarterly, Spring 2008.

For more information about the work we do in the Library, please read our Library, Art & Archives blog.