Inside: A collection of 25 beautiful vintage watercolour flower prints from Alexander Marshal’s florilegium.
If you are wondering what a Florilegium is, it’s a collection of flower drawings, illustrations and paintings. The term was regularly used in the seventeenth century. The word comes from the Latin flos (flower) and Legere (to gather).
Who Was Alexander Marshal
Alexander Marshal (1620 – 1682) was a seventeenth-century English gentleman gardener that worked in the famous gardens of London and the surrounding area. He was also an amateur artist painting flowers and insects.
Marshal was very talented at making paint pigments, so his floral watercolour paintings still look amazingly vibrant over 350 years since they were fast painted.
He worked on his Florilegium for his own pleasure and love of flowers. It took him over 20 years to paint about 650 flowers of 284 species. When he died, his nephew, Robert Friend, inherited the collection. After several generations of ownership, the Florilegium was given to George IV in 1818. It is still in the Royal Collection Trust and is held at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace.
Downloading Vintage Floral Prints
Alexander Marshal’s floral watercolour prints are in the Public Domain and copy-right free.
Click on the title above your chosen print, and a higher-resolution image will open in a new window. You can then save that image to your device or print it.
Florilegium prints 1-10
Floral Illustration 1: Striped Tulip
Alexander Marshal’s watercolour painting of three different flowers, including a Striped Tulip, a Lilly of the Valley and a double Wall-flower.
The lilly of the valley was the favourite flower of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Floral Illustrtions 2: Flowers, bird, & dog
Floreligeum page of watercolour paintings: Winter aconite, Liverwort, Crocuses, Common Primrose, a dog and a bird.
Floral Illustrtions 3: Snowdrops and seven other flowers
There are eight flower paintings on this page of the Florigaurium: snowdrop, mezereon, hyacinth, margined box, spring snowflake, sprint squill and two purple crocuses.
Floral Illustrations 4: Bunch-flowering daffodils and Others
This page has six botanical paintings: A bunch-flowering daffodil, a snake’s-head iris, two gentians, and two grape hyacinths.
Floral Watercolours 5 : Ox-eye and five others
Five flower paintings, ox-eye, dwarf-bearded iris, poppy anemone, greater periwinkle, snake’s-head fritillary and auricula.
Floral Watercolours 6: Jonquils and more
A print of eight plants: two jonquils, two snake’s head fritillaries, a star anemone, two auriculas and a broad-leaved iris.
Floral Illustrations 7: Primulas
Watercolours of six primulas, each with stem, leaf and flowers.
Floral Watercolours 8: Pancratium Illyricum
A Pancratium Illyricum, a Hyacinthus (Brimeura) amethystinus and two Primula x pubescens, all with leaves and flowers.
Floral Watercolours 9: Yellow Garlic
A print of four watercoloured flowers including yellow garlic, Molly Broad leaf, a Fritillary – a Persian Lilly, and Tufted Lavender.
Watercolour Print 10: Anemonies
Painted flowers including: Anemonies, a Hyacinth and Violets.
Florilegium Prints 11- 20
Watercolour Flowers 11: Savoy Spiderwort
Savoy Spiderwort, two Anemonies and a Crocus.
Watercolour Florals 12: Dog’s Tooth Violet
Florilegium page of watercolours of flowers, including three studies of the Dog’s Tooth Violet, two Daffodils, the striped Anemone, the Crimson Anemone and a Peach-coloured Anemone.
Floral Paintings 13: Double Purple Anemone
A page from Alexander Marshal’s Florilegium of five watercolours of flowers, including the double Purple and the double Rose Anemone, a parsley leaf Amaranthus and two single Blue Liverwort.
Floral Illustrtions 14: Broad leaf Anemonies
A page of watercolours of five flowers, including two Broad leaf Anemonies, a Single striped and a Double Parsley Anemone and a sprig of Barrenwort.
Floral Illustration 15: Red Primrose
Flower paintings include a great double orange tawny Anemone, a purple striped Anemone, a single pink Anemone, a double yellow, and a bright red Primrose.
Floral Illustrtions 16: Black Fritillary
Munster Striped Great Blue Anemone, the Glory of the West Anemone, the Imperial Anemone and a Black Fritillary.
Florilegruim Print 17: Double Daffodil
Alexander Marshal’s florilegium page of nine flowers. Including a double Daffodil, a purple-ringed Daffodil, three Anemonies, three violas and a double Periwinkle.
Floral Print 18: White Star of Naples
Eight watercolours of flowers, including a White Star of Naples (centre), a sky-coloured and a dark blue Grape-Hyacinth, a single variegated Auricula and four variegated Anemones.
A page of six painted tulips.
Six flowers include three cerise-striped Tulips, a Pansy or Heartsease (Viola family), a Summer Snowflake or Loddon Lily and a double anemone of the broad-leaved type.
Florilegium Prints 21- 25
Flower Paintings 21: Blue Iris
Three flowers including: a striped Tulip, a sprig of Syringa and a Blue Iris.
Flower Print 22: Striped Tulip
Three flowers including: a Striped Tulip, a Lilly of the Valley and a double Wall-flower.
Tulip, Marigold and Narrow-Leaved Vetch.
Six flowers include: a spotted Cranesbill, two single red Ranunculus, an orange Chamelotte Tulip and an Agate Tulip, a single red Stock and also at the foot of the page is a popular Hawkmoth.
Flower Print 25: Veriegated Iris
Three flowers including: a variegated Iris, two Double Stocks and also a caterpillar and an egg.
More Vintage Flower Paintings
If you enjoyed these watercolour pages from Alexander Marshal’s Florilegium, don’t forget to check out the many other stunning flower paintings in the vintage botanical collection on the site.
You’ll find many more bulb flower prints in this collection of Renaissance Flowers.
Other similar collections include the wildflower paintings of Harriet Isabel Adams, Pierre Joseph Redoute‘s flower paintings, the orchid prints of Charles Lemaire and John Thornton’s Temple of Flora.