- Biography
- Legacy
- Notes and references
Charlotte Caroline Sowerby (1820–1865) (sometimes C.C. Sowerby) was a 19th-century British scientific illustrator and a member of the extensive Sowerby family of naturalist-illustrators. BiographyCharlotte Caroline Sowerby was the oldest daughter of conchologist and illustrator George Brettingham Sowerby I and granddaughter of the naturalist and illustrator James Sowerby.[ Like her father and grandfather, she became a natural history illustrator. Not much is known of her life, but experts consider her illustrations to be of the highest quality.] Some of her work is included in the now-rare book The Illustrated Bouquet (E.G. Henderson & Son, 1857–1864), which includes images by a number of the best-known botanical artists of the period, including Augusta Innes Withers.[ Most of the plates in the book are by Sowerby, starting with Plate 10,][ and range from clematis, dianthus, petunia, and calceolaria to the Australian wildflower Sturt's desert pea (Swainsona formosa, formerly Clianthus dampieri).][ One illustration of gladiolus takes up a two-page spread.] She also contributed 12 plates to Edward Hamilton's Flora Homeopathica (1852–53). Although most of Sowerby's known works are botanical illustrations, there is extant an 1854 watercolor by her of a quartz crystal with asbestos inclusions, apparently drawn from a specimen in her family's collection.[ There are also three drawings of volcanoes made for George Julius Poulett Scrope.] LegacyIn 1997, a detail of Sowerby's watercolor of Guzmania splendens was included in a British stamp issue. Notes and references{{Authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Sowerby, Charlotte Caroline}} 9 : 1820 births|1865 deaths|Botanical illustrators|English illustrators|Place of birth missing|Women illustrators|English women artists|19th-century English painters|19th-century British women artists |