See the Work
Where to experience Botanical Prints's prints in person, and resources to learn more
Permanent Collections
Institutions holding Botanical Prints's original prints, plus the public-domain archive these images are drawn from.
The prints in this archive come from The Met, Cleveland Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian and the Biodiversity Heritage Library. All are in the public domain.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Richmond, London
Home to one of the world's great botanical art collections, including work by the Bauers, Fitch, and Marianne North.
Learn MoreLuEsther T. Mertz Library, New York Botanical Garden
Bronx, New York
A leading research library in botany with rare books, florilegia, and original botanical art.
Learn MoreOak Spring Garden Foundation
Upperville, Virginia
Holds the Bunny Mellon collection of rare botanical books and drawings.
Learn MoreHunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
Specialises in botanical art and illustration, with a large collection of drawings and prints.
Learn MoreBiodiversity Heritage Library
Online (international consortium)
An open-access digital library of natural-history literature, including many public-domain botanical plates.
Learn MoreSmithsonian Libraries and Archives
Washington, D.C.
Digital collections of rare natural-history books, with open-access images.
Learn MoreMetropolitan Museum of Art
New York City
Offers botanical prints and drawings through its CC0 Open Access program.
Learn MoreCleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, Ohio
Releases images of public-domain works, including botanical prints, under CC0.
Learn MoreMajor Exhibitions
Notable retrospectives and exhibitions of Botanical Prints's work.
Maria Sibylla Merian and Daughters: Women of Art and Science
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
An exhibition on Merian and the family of women artists around her, shown at the Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam, before the Getty.
Maria Sibylla Merian's Butterflies
The Queen's Gallery, London
A display of Merian's insect and plant studies from the Royal Collection.
Maria Sibylla Merian and the Tradition of Flower Illustration
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Works on paper and vellum from the sixteenth to the late eighteenth century placed Merian within the long tradition of flower illustration; later shown in Frankfurt.
Books & Films About Botanical Prints
Essential resources for understanding Botanical Prints's life and work.
Essential Reading
The classic survey of the subject, tracing botanical illustration from antiquity to the twentieth century; later revised with William T. Stearn.
A critical history that places botanical images within the science and technology of their time.
A study of how Fuchs, Gessner, and other sixteenth-century authors used images in printed books of natural history.
A narrative biography of Merian and her journey to Suriname.
A historian's study that includes a chapter on Maria Sibylla Merian.
A biography of Linnaeus with a particular focus on the visual culture of natural history.
Online Resources
Explore the Archive
Browse 698 Botanical Prints prints from The Met, Cleveland Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
View All Prints