Urticacea The Nettle Tribe. [Hops]

Biography:

Elizabeth Twining (1805–1889)

Elizabeth Twining was an English botanical illustrator born in 1805 into the famous Twinings tea merchant family, one of the nine children of Richard Twining and his wife Elizabeth Mary Smythies. Raised in a privileged area of London, she learned art and drawing as part of her upper-class education. Inspired by Curtis’s The Botanical Magazine and the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick gardens, Elizabeth began drawing plants and flowers. She practised by making sketches from works in the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and toured famous museums thanks to her father’s patronage. She wrote and illustrated a number of works on botany, most notably the Natural Order of Plants (1849-1855, based on her observation at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew and at Lexden Park in Colchester.

Elizabeth lived in the old family residence of Dial House, in Twickenham. She died in 1889, and by her will, Dial house was given to the people of Twickenham for use as the vicarage. Most of her original artwork is now part of the collection of the British Museum.