Botanical Paintings in the University Art Collections
By Abigail Kopetzky, Graduate Class of 2026 In January and September of 2025, the University of Denver received two groups of botanical paintings from different donors. The paintings appear on handmade paper, numbered in the top right corner. Most of the painted flowers are accompanied by their contemporary Latin names. The depicted flowers represent both the Old and New World, with examples from Europe, the Americas, and Asia. A previous owner brought one group of paintings to an art historian who specialized in flower still-lifes. Based on stylistic similarity to other botanical drawings in the period, he dated the paintings to approximately 1618. Early handmade paper was made using cotton and linen rags, which were beaten and processed into a...