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- Viola_05
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- Gratiola_41
LeConte Watercolors
The University of Notre Dame Libraries, Department of Rare Books and Special
Collections and the Edward Lee Greene Herbarium (NDG) of the University of
Notre Dame, Department of Biological Sciences has granted us permission to
display their collection of LeConte watercolors. The watercolors were
created by Major John Eatton LeConte.
Edward Lee Greene, an American botanist from 1843-1915, purchased the
volume of 42 LeConte watercolors of Viola, Utricularia and Gratiola from
a used book store in Philadelphia in 1897.
View the entire collection of LeConte watercolors.
According to Barbara J. Hellenthal, Curator at the Museum of
Biodiversity at the University
of Notre Dame who sent us the CD containing digital photographs of the
watercolors, they hold special significance, beyond any “artistic”
merit, because some of them are viewed as Type specimens (name bearers
for plant species). The plant
specimens from which LeConte painted them, while he was describing new
species, were not preserved. This was in the 1820s and the rules of
taxonomy and plant nomenclature or, even, the requirement for depositing
Type specimens were not as rigidly followed as today. Consequently, the
special circumstance of designating the original illustrations as the
Type specimens, rather than actual plant specimens has been invoked.
Each image is labeled with a genus name (Viola, Utricularia, or Gratiola)
and a number that represents their positions (or page numbers) in the
original “folio”, which is like a picture album with marbled boards and
blank pages. The watercolors, painted on watercolor paper and then cut
out of what must have been larger watercolor sketch pads or paper, were
laid into the “album”. This would have been done by LeConte. Each of the
watercolors is a different size and many are not even truly square at
the corners, as you will see on the margins of some of the images. The
illustrations are small and some are faint although some effort has been
made to enhance them. Most of the handwriting
is LeConte’s with a few identifications and comments added by Greene.
LeConte published monographic works on Viola, Utricularia and Gratiola
that relate to his watercolor illustrations in the Annals of the Lyceum
of Natural History of New York (Volume 1 in 1824 and Volume 2 in 1828),
but the illustrations were not included in the publications. You can
find digital copies of the Annals in Google Books.