Important Georg Dionysius Ehret Virginia Botanical

(German, 1708-1770)

The Virginia Martagon, a relative of the native Turk's cap lily, signed, inscribed and dated "Martagon Virginianum flore aureo punctato,/petalis florum non reflexis./G.D. Ehret. pinx. 1745."; pencil and watercolor on vellum, 20-7/8 x 14-5/8 in. (534 x 382 mm.); gilt wood frame, 24-1/4 x 17-5/8 x 1-5/8 in.

Provenance: Earls of Coventry at Croome Court, Croome D’abitot, Worcestershire, probably commissioned by William Coventry, the fifth earl of Coventry (1676-1751); W. Graham Arader III, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, purchased in 2001 (accompanied by facsimiles of the receipt and correspondence with the gallery); Estate of Richard and Shirley Roberts, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Note: Depicting the Martagon Virginianum, this watercolor illustrates one of the striking Turk's-cap lilies associated with colonial Virginia. Characterized by their gracefully recurved petals, martagon lilies were admired by both botanists and gardeners, and several species were native to the colony. John Banister recorded two forms of Lilium Martagon in his Catalogue of Virginia Plants, while the English diarist and horticulturalist John Evelyn referred to the "Virginia Martagon," demonstrating the flower's early recognition among seventeenth-century naturalists. Correspondence between Virginia planter John Custis and the London merchant and botanist Peter Collinson further documents the plant's desirability, noting that martagon lilies were being imported into Virginia by 1739 as part of the expanding transatlantic exchange of botanical specimens. These references underscore the flower's significance within the early history of American botany and the scientific networks that connected Virginia's flora to European collectors and gardens.

References: John Banister, Banister's Catalogue of Virginia Plants. Edited by Ivar Tidestrom, Smithsonian Institution, (1907), pp. 208-209; Joseph Ewan and Nesta Ewan, John Banister and His Natural History of Virginia, 1678-1692, University of Illinois Press, (1970); Earl G., Swem, ed. Brothers of the Spade: Correspondence of Peter Collinson, of London, and John Custis, of Williamsburg, Virginia, 1734-1746, Virginia Historical Society, (1952), pp. 63, 66, 86; Graham Arader Gallery, catalog note for Martagon Virginianum watercolor.