botanist, was born on 30 June 1825 in Rostock, Schleswig-Holstein. He came to Melbourne in 1852 and the following year was appointed Victorian government botanist by Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe . Some of von Mueller’s books, such as Flora Australiensis (which appeared in seven volumes between 1863 and 1878), contain numerous unsigned plates which have often been assumed to be after von Mueller’s own drawings, but it is now virtually certain that all the illustrations in his books were the work of other hands, including Ludwig Becker , F. Schoenfeld and Richard Shepherd . Alfred Bock took photographs for him.

There is no evidence that von Mueller ever sketched, although he took an interest in painting, sending his view of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens by Rasmiss to the 1869 Melbourne Public Library Exhibition. Primarily, however, he valued art insofar as it was an accurate record of the natural world. A great number of botanical painters and collectors throughout the Australian colonies sent plant collections and drawings to him for identification or as material for his books (von Mueller was a prolific correspondent). Largely women, his artist correspondents included Louisa Atkinson , Fanny Charsley , Helena Scott , Annie Walker and probably Fanny De Mole . For a short time he was engaged to the flower painter Euphemia Henderson .

Writers:

Staff Writer

Date written:

1992

Last updated:

2011