Mary Delany: aristocrat and pioneering botanical artist

Mary Delany died in 1788 and is buried in the crypt below St James's Church. In her 70s, Delany invented a form of paper-cutting or decoupage which she called 'paper mosaiks'. Most of her work was donated to the British Museum by her great-niece in 1897 and these highly coloured, intricate botanical cut-outs can be seen today.
Born into the aristocratic Granville family, she was married off to a 60-year-old Cornish landowner at 17. After being widowed at 21, she enjoyed moving freely in London high society, becoming a close friend of the Duchess of Portland, a member of Blue Stocking Society and a commentator on the role of women in eighteenth-century society, writing 'Why must women be driven to the necessity of marrying?.....a state that should always be a matter of choice'. After a second marriage and widowed again at 68, she returned to London and lived in St James's parish until her death. While there, she dedicated herself to intellectual and artistic pursuits, developing the art of creating accurate botanical studies cutting out from coloured paper with her nail scissors and sticking the delicate results onto black backing paper.
At the time it was unusual for women to study of botanical classification and horticulture because exploring plant sexual reproduction was considered unladylike, however Delany defied this in her work by highlighting flowers reproductive features. In recent years, her works have been considered important for what they tell us about gender identity and same sex intimacy at the time; her works can be considered to represent the human female anatomy and erotic potential - celebrating women and female eroticism while documenting plants and their anatomy. You can read more about this here: www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/celebrating-lgbtq-history-month-with-mary-delanys-sapphic-flowers
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