Mary Lawrance

Mary Lawrance Kearse (21 May 1781 – 27 March 1845) was a British botanical illustrator who specialized in flowers. She also taught botanical illustration. She charged half a guinea for her lessons. She is best known for producing the earliest published work on roses.

Lawrance was born at the British Lying-In Hospital in Holborn, London, to Mary and William Lawrance, a tailor.

Her first known exhibition was at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1795. Between 1796 and 1799 she created and published ''The Various Kinds of Roses Cultivated in England''. The book featured paintings of roses that Lawrance drew from nature. She also engraved and hand coloured the plates of the book and undertook the printing and publishing of the volume. In 1814, she married Thomas Kearse in Marylebone, continuing to work under her married name Mrs Kearse. She exhibited work until 1830. Her work is held in the collection of the New York Public Library, the Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

She died at her home at 48 Foley Street, Portland Place, Marylebone, in 1845. Provided by Wikipedia