Christabel King is the kind of botanical artist whose name most people never see, although her plates have been in print for half a century. Since 1975 she has painted for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, the scientific journal of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Her work identifies plants for botanists first and pleases the eye second, and it manages both. This profile sets out what is documented about her career and what her plates teach anyone who draws plants.
TL;DRChristabel King trained in botany at University College London and in scientific illustration at Middlesex Polytechnic. She has painted for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine since 1975, taught botanical illustration for decades, and wrote The Kew Book of Botanical Illustration.
Key Facts
Who Christabel King is
King came to illustration through science. According to her record at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, she took a degree in botany at University College London in 1971. She then spent two years studying scientific illustration at Middlesex Polytechnic. That order matters. She learned what a plant is before she learned how to draw one.
In 1975 she joined Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, the journal first published in 1787 and produced at Kew. She served as assistant to the editor until 1984 and has worked freelance since, while continuing to paint plates for the magazine. The Shirley Sherwood Collection, which holds several of her paintings, describes her as one of Kew’s leading botanical artists, with some forty years of work for the gardens behind her.
The Curtis’s plate: a drawing with a job
A plate in Curtis’s has to do something before it can be admired. It must let a botanist recognise the species, which means the whole plant, the flower and the diagnostic details all have to be accurate and legible on a printed page. Decoration that obscures a structure is a fault, however beautiful.
That discipline shows in King’s work. The Hunt Institute lists her contributions to Flowering Plants of the World and to a Kew monograph on the cactus genus Echinocereus. The paintings of hers in the Shirley Sherwood Collection include three cacti and the African tulip tree. Cacti are a severe test for an illustrator. The spines, ribs and areoles are what identify the plant, and they have to be counted, placed and drawn without turning the picture into a diagram.
The deeper history behind this kind of plate, from the herbals onward, is traced in medicinal plant illustration, and the painters who first set its standards in the golden age of botanical illustration.
Teacher and author
A great deal of King’s influence has passed through her students. Her publishers record that she taught botanical illustration at Capel Manor College from 1986 to 2012, and the Shirley Sherwood Collection notes her workshops and courses at Kew. She has also spoken internationally; in May 2025 she discussed scientific illustration at Salt Beyoğlu in Istanbul, alongside its Anatolian Plant Legacy exhibition.
Her book, The Kew Book of Botanical Illustration, gathers that teaching into one volume and is now in a second edition. It covers both precise scientific work and looser botanical painting. For anyone learning the craft, it is the closest thing to a lesson from a working Curtis’s artist.
Medals and exhibitions
Early in her career, the Royal Horticultural Society awarded King a Grenfell Silver Medal in 1973 and a Grenfell Silver-Gilt Medal in 1974. Her work has been shown in a one-person exhibition at Agnew’s in London in 1980 and in group shows including the Society of Botanical Artists in 1986. Her paintings are held by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and by the Shirley Sherwood Collection.
Where to see contemporary botanical art in person, and which living artists are worth following, is covered in living botanical artists in Britain and Europe.
What This Means for the Work
What I take from King’s plates is restraint. A Curtis’s plate has to identify a plant before it pleases anyone, and her work never forgets that order of priorities. The result is a picture you can trust, which is also why it lasts.
That is the part of the tradition the studio works within. Each Fiurdelin plate is a hand-drawn digital illustration made from a specimen, a different medium from King’s watercolours but the same discipline of looking. Fiurdelin’s catalogue holds more than 50 published plates, and the studio is a member of the Association of Botanical Artists. Many women have shaped this field, and their longer history is told in the women botanical artists pillar.
FAQ
Who is Christabel King?
A British botanical artist, born in London, who has painted plates for Curtis’s Botanical Magazine at Kew since 1975. She is also a teacher and the author of The Kew Book of Botanical Illustration.
What is Curtis’s Botanical Magazine?
A botanical journal first published in 1787 and still produced at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Its plates are scientific illustrations made to identify plants.
Has Christabel King won RHS medals?
Yes. The Royal Horticultural Society awarded her a Grenfell Silver Medal in 1973 and a Grenfell Silver-Gilt Medal in 1974.
What medium does Christabel King use?
Watercolour, and pen and ink, according to the Hunt Institute’s record of her work.
Where can I read more about the tradition she works in?
The studio’s book, The Living Canvas, traces botanical art from the early herbals to contemporary practice across 462 pages.
Following the Curtis’s Tradition
King’s plates show that the scientific tradition of botanical art is still alive and still useful. Its longer story, from the first herbals to the present day, is told in The Living Canvas, which is also available as an audiobook. The studio’s own plates are in the Fiurdelin collection.
