Abstract:
Explores the thinking and technology behind the botanical illustrations in John Buchanan’s nineteenth century works on New Zealand grasses, which served as valuable proxies for the specimens themselves when it came to practical identification and the initial formulation of ideas about their taxonomy and physiology. Provides a broader understanding of Buchanan’s significance for both New Zealand’s science history and its art history by considering his relationship to the emergent techniques of photography and lithography as he used them in carrying out his work as a draughtsman at the Colonial Museum in the mid nineteenth century. Looks particularly at his nature printing work for 'The Indigenous Grasses' and 'Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute'.
