Curator Talk (Illustrated)

Reckless Confidence: Joseph Banks and the Florilegium - Undertaking the world’s largest fine art printing project - and pulling it off (literally)

Sunday 18 August 2pm – 3 pm | Burrinja
FREE

The printing of Banks’ Florilegium is a tale of ambition, persistence and sheer luck. Despite Banks’ enormous personal effort and investment, the project attempting to record the massive amount of plants collected on Cook’s first voyage around the world was never completed in his lifetime. Curiously, the florilegium escaped neglect and destruction only by a hair’s breadth. Burrinja Curator JD Mittmann will trace the extraordinary story that resulted in one of the most remarkable printing projects – 160 years after Banks’ death.

Image credit:

George Stubbs, ‘The Kongouro from New Holland'
ID: ZBA5754
Exploration: Cook's First Voyage, 1768-1771
(c) National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.