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Rowan, Marian Ellis (1848 - 1922)

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Botanical artist and Botanical collector
Born: 30 July 1848  Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  Died: 4 October 1922  Macedon, Victoria.
Marian Ellis Rowan is best known for her Australian wild flower paintings. The Australian government bought 947 of them in 1923 and the collection is held at the National Library of Australia, together with a portrait of her by John Longstaff.

Career Highlights
Alternative Names: Ryan, Marian Ellis (maiden name)
No formal art training, but encouraged by English relatives whom she visited in 1869 to continue painting wildflowers in her own style, married Frederick Charles Rowan 1873 and moved to New Zealand, returned to Victoria 1877, exhibited her work in international exhibitions in Australia, India, England, Europe and the USA 1879-93, winning 10 gold medals, 15 silver and 4 bronze, travelling and exhibiting in New Zealand, London and the USA 1893-1905, wrote "Flower Hunter in Queensland and New Zealand" 1898, returned to Australia 1905 and searched to find and record every species of wildflower on the continent, visited Papua and New Guinea twice in 1916-18, finding and illustrating many hitherto unclassified flowers and searching for unidentified birds of paradise, exhibited 1,000 paintings in Sydney 1920. Queen Victoria had 3 of her paintings, the South Australian purchased 100 and Queensland 125. Many of her discoveries were classified and named by Ferdinand von Mueller (q.v.).
 
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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Rosanne Walker
Created: 30 June 1997
Modified: 2 August 2006

Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007
Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre
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Updated: 26 February 2007
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P002817b.htm

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