George Brookshaw

Green Flesh or Candia Melon Aquatint by George Brookshaw

1812

George Brookshaw began his artistic career as a teacher of watercolor painting. During the prime of his life, he was a sought-after cabinetmaker, creating finely-painted neoclassical furniture for patrons such as the Prince of Wales (the future King George IV). However, public records about his career disappear in the mid-1790s, about the same time that his prominent marriage collapsed. There is no mention of him until the Pomona Britannica began its release in 1804. Historian Lucy Wood suggests that Brookshaw began a new career in botanical studies under the name G. Brown, author of A New Treatise on Flower Painting, a painting instruction text. Several plates in the 1817 supplement to that work are now attributed to Brookshaw. Plate 27 by George Brookshaw from one of the finest volumes on pomology, "Pomona Britannica or a Collection of the Most Esteemed Fruits at Present Cultivated in Great Britain". Many of Brookshaw’s models came from the Royal Gardens at Hampton Court and Kensington Gardens.