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More History and Heritage.....
Kew Today.....
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The Marianne North GalleryIn August 1879, Marianne North wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker, offering Kew not only her collection of paintings, but also a to build gallery in which to house them, her only stipulation being the use of a room as a studio. Kew, of course, accepted. Her architect friend James Fergusson designed a T-shaped building with a verandah around the outside, which mirrored her feelings for India. Its design is also reminiscent of a Greek temple, satisfying Ferguson's own ideas on an intense level of natural lighting from large clerestory windows high above the paintings. On one corner is the single storey studio for the artist's use and on another, a two-storey 'flat', now disused, intended by Marianne North as accommodation for a resident gardener There are two double-height gallery spaces in which then paintings are displayed. Miss North took charge of the hanging herself, arranging them in geographical order over a dado of 246 vertical strips of different timbers. The walls are virtually solid with paintings - there are 832 artworks all told, showing over 900 species of plants - a unique memorial to an equally unique woman.
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1841-1885:
The flowering of Kew
Marianne
North
The
Marianne North Gallery 
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