Botanical Art Worldwide 2025
Italy

Information forthcoming

Botanical Art Worldwide 2018

A Flourishing Heritage - Portraits of Italian Flora

About this Exhibition

May 18 - June 18, Padua Botanic Garden, Padua, Italy.

Italy too has joined Botanical Art Worldwide - Linking people to plants through botanical art; a project initiated by the American Society of Botanical Artists. The exhibition in Italy will be held at the oldest botanical garden in the world, the Padua Botanic Garden (Orto Botanico di Padova) established in 1545 and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. Recently, a new modern sector called The Biodiversity Garden was inaugurated adjacent to the ancient Garden of Simples which dates back to the 16th century. The exhibition has been organised by Floraviva, the Italian Association of Botanical Artists in collaboration with the Padua Botanic Garden.

Floraviva, established in 2004 to promote and sustain the development of the ancient tradition of botanical art, brings together the most qualified exponents of this art in Italy today. An invitation to submit artwork for this worldwide event was extended to independent botanical artists as well as Floraviva members.

Particular attention was given to the endemic contingent of the national flora. Out of all the native species depicted (approximately 70), only two are considered naturalised, while 18 are endemic to Italy, some are very rare and several are endangered. This is in line with the recommendations expressed at an international level: raising awareness of the flora and biodiversity that characterise each country, and the fundamental role they play in the landscape. Given that botanical art and representation of the natural world went through a great development during the Renaissance, the name given to the Italian exhibition wishes to recall this legacy: A Flourishing Heritage - Portraits of Italian Flora.

Artists selected are: Anna Maria Aulicino, Silvia Battaglini, Renata Bonzo, Lucilla Carcano, Pierino Delvo', Natalino De Marchi, Nadia Farotti, Marina Fusari, Claudio Giordano, Margherita Leoni, Maria Lombardi, Rosemary Labella Lucca, Anne Eldredge Maury, Adriana Morgante Giornetti, Alfredina Nocera, Simonetta Occhipinti, Claudine Pasquin, Angela Petrini, Carla Pucci da Filicaja, Silvana Rava, Roberta Sarchioni, Mary Ann Scott, Angelo Speziale, Maria Rita Stirpe, Lisa Tommasi, Daniela Trabucco, Marina Ubertini, Lidia Vanzetti, Rosanna Verga Simonelli, Silvana Volpato, and Elena Zito.

For more information email botanicalart@ortobotanicopd.it. Floraviva’s website is: http://www.floraviva.org

artwork

The Jury of Experts, composed of Prof. Barbara Baldan, Director of the Padua Botanic Garden, Prof. Fabio Garbari, former President of the Italian Botanical Society, and Prof. Lucia Tomasi Tongiorgi, Art Historian of the University of Pisa, met at the end of February to carefully examine all the artworks presented by the artists. A total of 67 artworks were admitted by 31 artists, 27 of whom are women. These are three of the images chosen for this exhibition.