Browse content similar to Kew's Forgotten Queen. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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This place has some of the richest diversity of wildlife. | 0:00:03 | 0:00:07 | |
There are all manner of monkeys and lizards and snakes. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:11 | |
But if you'd come here, say, 150 years ago, | 0:00:13 | 0:00:17 | |
when this was still one of the most remote places on Earth... | 0:00:17 | 0:00:22 | |
there's just a possibility that you might have followed | 0:00:22 | 0:00:25 | |
one of the winding forest paths... | 0:00:25 | 0:00:27 | |
..and happened suddenly upon... | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
..a middle-aged Englishwoman, standing, painting furiously. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:41 | |
The woman's name is Marianne North, | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
a Victorian rebel in petticoats. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:49 | |
She hunted the world to paint undiscovered plants, | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
armed with nothing more than a brush and an iron will. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:56 | |
Here I go, Miss North! | 0:00:56 | 0:00:58 | |
I'm actress Emilia Fox and I've come to Borneo, | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
following in the footsteps of this intrepid explorer, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:05 | |
whose maverick nature has always inspired me. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:08 | |
Marianne North stepped into the realm of the man. | 0:01:08 | 0:01:11 | |
She broke all manner of rules, | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
travelling the globe alone for 15 years... | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
Everywhere she went, she drew. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:20 | |
..creating over 1,000 paintings. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
There is a vibrancy and a sense of feeling and emotion. | 0:01:22 | 0:01:26 | |
It makes me want to cry! | 0:01:26 | 0:01:28 | |
This is the story of a fearless pioneer... | 0:01:29 | 0:01:32 | |
She was consumed by this passion... | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
-Yes. -..to paint plants. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
..whose vision impressed the most revolutionary scientist of all time. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:41 | |
Darwin had great respect for her. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:43 | |
She did bring to life his theory. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
Incredible. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
To run away into the wild with plants, | 0:01:47 | 0:01:51 | |
that makes Marianne North an extraordinary painter. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
You wouldn't believe that I'm in one of the most | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
densely populated cities in the world. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:12 | |
But this is a 300-acre oasis of calm in south-west London. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:16 | |
This is Kew Gardens. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:18 | |
For over 250 years, these magnificent gardens | 0:02:23 | 0:02:27 | |
have led the world in botanical research. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
Under Queen Victoria, | 0:02:31 | 0:02:33 | |
it became the scientific powerhouse of the British Empire. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
It's here at Kew where it all began, | 0:02:38 | 0:02:41 | |
where a feisty woman, Marianne North, was inspired to collect | 0:02:41 | 0:02:45 | |
and paint the most remarkable plants, travel to the far corners | 0:02:45 | 0:02:49 | |
of the world, and bend the rules of tradition. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:52 | |
For me, Marianne North is a visionary, | 0:02:56 | 0:02:59 | |
a hidden treasure whose life and work merit exploration. | 0:02:59 | 0:03:04 | |
At a time when women occupied the drawing-room, | 0:03:04 | 0:03:06 | |
this Victorian trailblazer openly shuns domestic stereotypes. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:11 | |
She travels across five continents, discovers unknown species, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:16 | |
and brings the natural world alive in the most mesmerising way. | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
I've grown up taking my right as a woman for granted. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:24 | |
I vote, I work, I have choices. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
Marianne lives at a time when the very idea of educated women | 0:03:27 | 0:03:31 | |
is ridiculed. The Royal Society of Science | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
didn't admit the first female Fellow until 1945, | 0:03:33 | 0:03:38 | |
almost three decades after women won the vote in 1918. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:43 | |
It's a testament to her strength | 0:03:43 | 0:03:46 | |
that Marianne defies those boundaries. | 0:03:46 | 0:03:49 | |
Marianne is certainly extraordinary in many ways. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
I think her outlook on life is quite unusual. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
She undoubtedly lives a life less ordinary | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
and seeks out thrilling and adventurous experiences. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:07 | |
Marianne's adventurous spirit and curious mind is evident | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
from a young age. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:12 | |
Born in Hastings in 1830, her father, Frederick North, | 0:04:12 | 0:04:16 | |
a well-connected and wealthy landowner, | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
encourages her passion for the natural world, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:22 | |
and Kew Gardens. | 0:04:22 | 0:04:24 | |
It's like a natural playground... | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
..where London society, botanists and scientists, | 0:04:31 | 0:04:34 | |
came to enjoy and learn about the extraordinary life of plants. | 0:04:34 | 0:04:38 | |
It can also lay claim to being | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:46 | |
For me, Kew Gardens is a wondrous canopy | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
of ever-changing earthly beauty | 0:04:51 | 0:04:54 | |
and it's incredible to think that it was just as wondrous | 0:04:54 | 0:04:57 | |
in Victorian times for the intrepid Marianne North. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
It's on a visit in 1856, when Marianne was 26, | 0:05:07 | 0:05:11 | |
that Frederick North brings his daughter here to the Palm House. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:16 | |
For Marianne, it's like walking into a fantastical, alien world. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
This is one of the wonders of the Victorian age. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
Half an acre of iron and glass. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:37 | |
The Palm House opens in 1848 | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
and is the brainchild of Sir William Hooker, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
Kew's first official director and friend of Frederick North. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
This symbol of the British Empire literally brings the tropics | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
to the heart of Victorian Britain | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
and to the awestruck Marianne North. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
I'm surrounded by extremely spiky plants. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:07 | |
But this is the Eastern Cape giant cycad. | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
At over 200 years old, it could be the world's oldest pot plant. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:16 | |
So when Marianne North came here in 1856 with her father, | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
this cycad had been on display at Kew for 80 years. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
No wonder it needs to be propped up in its old age! | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
It's an absolutely extraordinary plant. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
But there is another plant here | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
that is even more thrilling for the young Marianne. | 0:06:40 | 0:06:44 | |
"Sir William Hooker gave me | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
"a hanging bunch of the Amherstia nobilis, | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
"one of the grandest flowers in existence. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:03 | |
"It was the first that had bloomed in England | 0:07:03 | 0:07:06 | |
"and it made me long to see the tropics." | 0:07:06 | 0:07:09 | |
This fantastical flower completely captures her imagination. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:14 | |
It ignites a spark that would, over the next 30 years, | 0:07:14 | 0:07:18 | |
drive her to conquer the globe and create over 1,000 paintings. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:23 | |
Now, if you can imagine, for the past five years, | 0:07:24 | 0:07:28 | |
Marianne has thrived as a watercolour artist, | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
constantly painting flowers, landscapes | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
and every aspect of the natural world. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
In fact, ever since 1855, | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
her father complains of her making a most exclusive business of painting. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:47 | |
And coming here was like adding fire to her passion. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
Her paintings are very much infused with her identity | 0:07:55 | 0:08:00 | |
and her feelings and her emotions. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
She didn't have the botanical training | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
that a professional technical artist would have had. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
So, Marianne is very much breaking the rules | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
because she doesn't really conform | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
to anything that's going on at the time. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:18 | |
She wanted to have control over what appeared on her canvas. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
'Marianne has such a pioneering spirit, | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
'the passion with which she paints. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
'I'm curious to know where that came from | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
'so I've come to Rougham Hall in Norfolk where she spent her summers, | 0:08:34 | 0:08:38 | |
'and where her great-great nephew Tom North still lives | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
'with his wife Sally and sister Christine.' | 0:08:41 | 0:08:44 | |
-Hello. -Hello, Tom. | 0:08:44 | 0:08:46 | |
-Nice to meet you. -Lovely to meet you. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:49 | |
-Welcome to our little house. -Thank you so much. -Come in. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:54 | |
-Hello, I'm Christine. -Hello, Emilia. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:56 | |
-And Sally. -Hi, Sally. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:57 | |
It's lovely to be able to come here and meet you | 0:08:57 | 0:09:00 | |
and now to find out a little bit more about Marianne as a person. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:04 | |
She spent so much time here. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:05 | |
So, where shall we begin? | 0:09:08 | 0:09:10 | |
A cup of tea! | 0:09:10 | 0:09:12 | |
Lovely, thank you so much. | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
It's breathtaking when you walk in, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
you can feel the family atmosphere here straightaway, | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
just with all the pictures, the colours, the fire. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:24 | |
Aunt Pop kept these wonderful diaries and inside, | 0:09:26 | 0:09:30 | |
she has collected every different type of grass | 0:09:30 | 0:09:34 | |
-that was growing in Norfolk. -Really? | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
How lovely! | 0:09:37 | 0:09:38 | |
'Marianne, known as Aunt Pop, is one of three children. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:45 | |
'Her father is a Member of Parliament for Hastings | 0:09:45 | 0:09:47 | |
'and she enjoys a privileged upbringing.' | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
He must have been an extraordinary man, I think, of great charm. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
They were very, very close. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
It was him that gave her the nickname Pop. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:58 | |
We always thought, as children, | 0:09:58 | 0:10:00 | |
that it was because she was always popping off to foreign parts. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:03 | |
But when she was a very little girl, she was always his favourite child. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
Both of them loved the countryside. | 0:10:09 | 0:10:11 | |
They used to ride round the garden | 0:10:11 | 0:10:14 | |
and they also studied the plants. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:18 | |
They just enjoyed a simple country life. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
So, these are Marianne's pictures? | 0:10:23 | 0:10:25 | |
Those are her own pictures, yes. | 0:10:25 | 0:10:27 | |
I think she must have painted those when she was quite young | 0:10:27 | 0:10:30 | |
cos they look to me like watercolours. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
And there's her father sitting in the garden, reading. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:38 | |
Yes, there he is. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:39 | |
And there he's reading on the bench. | 0:10:39 | 0:10:41 | |
And they spent a lot of time in their garden at Hastings. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:47 | |
-They're amazing gardens, from these pictures. -I know. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
Her father built three greenhouses in the gardens | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
with different temperatures in each house, | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
rather like at Kew. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
They worked in the greenhouses pretty well every day. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
And so do you think he taught Marianne about plants? | 0:11:03 | 0:11:07 | |
I would think he was pretty knowledgeable as well. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:12 | |
But I think she sort of overtook him, as it were. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
She was always mad about plants and she used to wash the plants | 0:11:17 | 0:11:20 | |
and tend the sick ones. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:22 | |
Her mind seems to have been slightly different | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
to the average Victorian lady. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
To do something so spirited, to go off on these travels, | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
makes her slightly unique for the time. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
I think she was a very independent spirit. | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
-Yes. -I know her father sometimes used to get worn out by her. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:44 | |
-She was so energetic! -THEY LAUGH | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
But Marianne was definitely number one in his life, I think. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
She was the absolute apple of his eye. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:56 | |
"My first recollections relate to my father. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:01 | |
"He was, from first to last, the one idol and friend of my life | 0:12:01 | 0:12:06 | |
"and apart from him, I had little pleasure and no secrets." | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
Away from the quiet summers in Rougham Hall, | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
the North family also lead a very sociable and bohemian lifestyle. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:19 | |
Their Hastings home is a revolving door | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
to musicians and famous artists. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:24 | |
William Henry Hunt and Edward Lear are regular visitors. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:29 | |
At an early age, Marianne is exposed to untraditional influences | 0:12:29 | 0:12:33 | |
and feels confident in being different. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:36 | |
"Someone told my mother that I was very uneducated, | 0:12:39 | 0:12:42 | |
"which was perfectly true, so I was sent to school. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
"School life was hateful to me." | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
Marianne's school life is short-lived | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
and she's left to her own devices. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:54 | |
But she turns out to be well read, very knowledgeable | 0:12:54 | 0:12:57 | |
and almost entirely self-taught. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
The Norths were an intellectual family | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
and that gave Aunt Pop confidence to do her own thing. | 0:13:05 | 0:13:09 | |
She had a particular way of coding, almost, | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
where she would sign each painting. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
And you can see here, it's hidden away, you can see here. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:22 | |
Look! That's fantastic! | 0:13:22 | 0:13:26 | |
-That says so much about her character, doesn't it? -Yes, it does. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
So, is that the same with all her paintings? | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
You have to search for her signature? | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
You have to search, indeed you do. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:35 | |
-I won't tell you where it is! -OK. | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
-There it is. -You've found it. | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
It's like being a child. | 0:13:46 | 0:13:47 | |
It is, yes. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
It's so clever, I love it. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
Marianne rather relished being quite different | 0:13:52 | 0:13:55 | |
and sometimes perhaps even played up to it. | 0:13:55 | 0:13:59 | |
It would have been expected for most women to simply get married, | 0:13:59 | 0:14:03 | |
have children, and stay within the domestic environment, | 0:14:03 | 0:14:06 | |
whereas she, from quite an early age, was striving to be different. | 0:14:06 | 0:14:11 | |
Marianne grows up here in Hastings where that freedom to be different, | 0:14:17 | 0:14:22 | |
to follow her ambition, | 0:14:22 | 0:14:24 | |
is nurtured by both her father and her mother, Janet. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:27 | |
Frederick North and his family clearly enjoyed travelling | 0:14:29 | 0:14:33 | |
and seeing how people lived on the Continent and elsewhere. | 0:14:33 | 0:14:37 | |
I think they were quite a close-knit family | 0:14:39 | 0:14:42 | |
and weren't totally bound by every strict Victorian convention. | 0:14:42 | 0:14:47 | |
Marianne's mother dies when Marianne is 25. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:55 | |
It doesn't merit much of a mention in her autobiography, | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
except to say that her last few weeks had been dreary. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:03 | |
But it's an important moment because Frederick North never remarries | 0:15:08 | 0:15:13 | |
and Marianne makes a promise never to leave his side. | 0:15:13 | 0:15:16 | |
The two remain constant companions, | 0:15:17 | 0:15:19 | |
travelling extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:23 | |
Marianne captures their expeditions in exquisite watercolour drawings. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:30 | |
But 1868 marks a creative turning point - | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
Australian artist Robert Dowling gives her her first lesson | 0:15:33 | 0:15:39 | |
in oil painting. She describes the experience | 0:15:39 | 0:15:41 | |
as "a vice like dram drinking". | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
From then on, Marianne was addicted. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:49 | |
Marianne North's world suddenly collapses when, in October 1869, | 0:15:57 | 0:16:02 | |
her father, Frederick North, dies. | 0:16:02 | 0:16:06 | |
"The last words in his mouth were, 'Come and give me a kiss, Pop. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
"'I am only going to sleep.' | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
"He never woke again | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
"and left me indeed alone." | 0:16:18 | 0:16:20 | |
According to her own account, she goes into a kind of hibernation | 0:16:22 | 0:16:27 | |
and then emerges, with this very British stiff upper lip response. | 0:16:27 | 0:16:33 | |
"I could not bear to talk of him or of anything else | 0:16:35 | 0:16:39 | |
"and resolved to keep out of the way of all friends and relations. | 0:16:39 | 0:16:44 | |
"I left the house at Hastings forever." | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
Marianne, nearly 40 years old and mistress of her own destiny, | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
sets off on her travels. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:55 | |
She possesses a large fortune and can do absolutely as she pleases. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:59 | |
Finally, her rage to see the tropics is fulfilled. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:04 | |
Marianne's gateway to the globe begins in America. | 0:17:04 | 0:17:08 | |
Her horizons are magnified. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
She is enchanted by grand, giant trees | 0:17:10 | 0:17:13 | |
and the breathtaking Niagara Falls. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:15 | |
She visits a dozen countries in just six years, always on the move, | 0:17:15 | 0:17:21 | |
always painting and always a lone traveller. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:25 | |
Unlike our click-easy vacations, | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
travelling 150 years ago was difficult and dangerous. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:34 | |
Marianne would have easily spent up to two years at sea, | 0:17:34 | 0:17:38 | |
enduring cramped, unsanitary conditions, | 0:17:38 | 0:17:40 | |
violent storms and severe sickness. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
It's seen as an unsuitable pursuit for the weaker sex, | 0:17:44 | 0:17:48 | |
unless one has what were called letters of introduction. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:52 | |
Marianne's letters of introduction were absolutely vital for her | 0:17:53 | 0:17:57 | |
to gain the kind of experiences that she had. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:02 | |
These letters operated like a 19th-century social network | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
that connected British upper classes around the Empire. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:09 | |
It ensured that she was introduced to a lot of intellectual ideas, | 0:18:09 | 0:18:14 | |
scientific thought, challenging debates, | 0:18:14 | 0:18:18 | |
many things that other women simply didn't encounter at that time. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:22 | |
But it isn't the chance to rub shoulders with high society | 0:18:22 | 0:18:27 | |
that really excites her. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
What she wants is to paint in the most far-flung places on Earth. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:34 | |
"I had long had the dream of going to some tropical country | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
"to paint its peculiar vegetation on the spot | 0:18:40 | 0:18:44 | |
"in natural luxuriance." | 0:18:44 | 0:18:45 | |
I've followed Marianne to one of these tropical countries. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
This is Sarawak, north Borneo. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
She travelled here to paint curious plants, | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
including those strange flesh-eating pitcher plants. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
"The loveliest and most extraordinary productions | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
"in all Malaya." | 0:19:05 | 0:19:07 | |
1876 finds Marianne steaming in from Singapore to Kuching, | 0:19:07 | 0:19:12 | |
the Malaysian part of Borneo. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:15 | |
She arrived by boat, soaking in all this exotic difference. | 0:19:15 | 0:19:19 | |
"The glorious vegetation dazzled me with its magnificence. | 0:19:22 | 0:19:26 | |
"What was I to paint first?" | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
North Borneo was a bizarre outpost like no other. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:37 | |
In the 19th century, explorer James Brooke helped crush a rebellion | 0:19:37 | 0:19:42 | |
against the Sultan of Brunei. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:44 | |
He was given Sarawak and the title of White Rajah. | 0:19:44 | 0:19:49 | |
By the time Marianne North comes here, | 0:19:50 | 0:19:52 | |
with the inevitable letter of introduction, | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
the second White Rajah, nephew Charles Brooke, | 0:19:54 | 0:19:57 | |
was firmly in charge. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:00 | |
He rules with a staff of 20 English officers, 100 soldiers, and a wife, | 0:20:00 | 0:20:05 | |
titled the Ranee, who he imported from England to produce an heir. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:09 | |
'The Astana, meaning Palace, | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
'was the official residence of the Rajah and Ranee. | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
'It was Marianne's first stop in Kuching | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
'and where I am meeting historian John Walker | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
'to talk about her intriguing visit.' | 0:20:22 | 0:20:24 | |
When Marianne arrived, the Rajah was away, so the Ranee was by herself | 0:20:25 | 0:20:29 | |
and she really welcomed Marianne. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
Yes. And so when she arrived, | 0:20:31 | 0:20:32 | |
there was quite an interesting introduction, wasn't there? | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
And the Ranee said something about Marianne's appearance. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:38 | |
-She was not flattering! -No, she wasn't! | 0:20:38 | 0:20:39 | |
She said she had a big nose and thin lips. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
But on the other hand, Marianne described her as being beautiful. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:45 | |
The Ranee had many admirable qualities, | 0:20:45 | 0:20:47 | |
but nobody else describes her as beautiful. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
'We learn a lot about Marianne in the Ranee's autobiography. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:58 | |
'The account of her globetrotting guest is playfully revealing.' | 0:20:58 | 0:21:02 | |
The Ranee clearly enjoyed her being here. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
But she was trying. | 0:21:04 | 0:21:06 | |
There was a restlessness to her. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
"After luncheon, Miss North was hurtlingly energetic. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
"With the thermometer at 80 degrees in the shade, | 0:21:14 | 0:21:17 | |
"I was longing for my siesta. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:19 | |
"'What?' said my friend. 'I never heard of such a thing!'" | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
Marianne is clearly strong-willed and enthusiastic, | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
to the point of obsession. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:29 | |
Do you think there was something more to her need | 0:21:31 | 0:21:34 | |
to travel to such far-flung places? | 0:21:34 | 0:21:36 | |
Emilia, it wasn't an interest, it was a passion. | 0:21:36 | 0:21:38 | |
-Yes. -It was an absolute passion. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:39 | |
-She was driven. -Yes. -And you have to remember | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
that she actually was a botanist. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:43 | |
We think of her as an artist because she painted, | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
but in the absence of colour photography, | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
those paintings are a vital contribution to science. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
And it was a male dominated world. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
-Yes. -She wanted to be taken seriously by Hooker, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:57 | |
who was the director of Kew Gardens, and he did take her seriously. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
This is an extraordinary achievement for a 19th-century woman. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:03 | |
Marianne was different | 0:22:05 | 0:22:07 | |
because she wasn't just travelling for the point of travelling. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
-She was consumed by this passion. -Yes. -To paint plants. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
Yes, and she didn't seem bothered by the heat or the dangers in her quest | 0:22:12 | 0:22:16 | |
-for finding them. -She was very practical about it. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
So the Ranee was shocked, she comments she has short petticoats | 0:22:18 | 0:22:21 | |
-which she always seems to have up! -That's right! | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
And then she's in the boat and she says that she sat there | 0:22:23 | 0:22:25 | |
with her knees "en evidence". | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
-It's just a fantastic image, isn't it? -Yes. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
'Once Marianne finishes shocking and charming her hostess, | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
'she sets her mind on one purpose - | 0:22:36 | 0:22:38 | |
'finding those peculiar pitcher plants.' | 0:22:38 | 0:22:41 | |
She's like a child in her excitement. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
The very day she arrives, she tells the Ranee, | 0:22:43 | 0:22:46 | |
"I want to go and see some pitcher plants." | 0:22:46 | 0:22:48 | |
The Ranee's never heard of them, | 0:22:48 | 0:22:49 | |
so they have to ask one of the house boys | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
and he knows where they are in the forest. | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
So she grabs the Ranee, they jump in a little canoe, | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
row up the river and down a creek, | 0:22:56 | 0:22:58 | |
clamber through the mud and they find a selection of pitcher plants. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
And she's delighted. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:04 | |
-Yes. -So the next day the Ranee says, "What do you want to do?" | 0:23:04 | 0:23:07 | |
She said, "Do? I'm going to paint while they're fresh." | 0:23:07 | 0:23:10 | |
She spent the entire day painting them. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:12 | |
"And, from that moment, I did very truly love Miss North. | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
"She was an artist, she felt the beauty of our surroundings. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:24 | |
"She loved flowers and all beautiful things." | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
Marianne North's work has a pulsating liveliness | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
that is drawn, I think, through her use of oil painting. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:42 | |
Botanical drawings would usually be in pencil or watercolour. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:47 | |
By using oils and refusing to follow | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
traditional codes of scientific illustration, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
Marianne blurs the lines between science and art. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:59 | |
The thing about North's use of oils is that it is totally natural. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
She just takes the colour, places it onto the paper and mixes it, | 0:24:02 | 0:24:07 | |
which is quite unusual. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:08 | |
And given some of the detail that she accomplishes, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:12 | |
it is quite extraordinary. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:13 | |
'But what is extraordinary to Marianne | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
'isn't just the excitement of painting, | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
'it's her botanical curiosity | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
'and the hunt of the plant itself.' | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
Here I go, Miss North! | 0:24:24 | 0:24:25 | |
'And now, I want to have a taste of that adventure, | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
'to see what excited Marianne, | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
'to find those bizarre carnivorous plants.' | 0:24:31 | 0:24:35 | |
It looks unreal, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
like we're in a film and this is a film set. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
Maybe we are! | 0:24:40 | 0:24:41 | |
'I'm heading into the depths of a forest south of Kuching. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:53 | |
'There, Mr Yeo, a local wildlife expert, | 0:24:53 | 0:24:56 | |
'I hope will make my day "pitcher" perfect.' | 0:24:56 | 0:25:00 | |
So that must've been why Marianne wanted to come to Borneo. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
Uh-huh. Yes. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
Ah! A sheer cliff face! | 0:25:31 | 0:25:35 | |
'There are 30-40 species of pitcher plants in Borneo, | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
'around 20 in Sarawak alone. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
'It's no wonder Marianne came here, | 0:25:40 | 0:25:42 | |
'battling challenging terrains to catch a glimpse.' | 0:25:42 | 0:25:45 | |
-Are you all right? -Thank you. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
-Are you all right? -Do you think Marianne climbed cliffs like this? | 0:25:54 | 0:25:57 | |
So it's like an Easter egg hunt, but with pitcher plants! | 0:26:15 | 0:26:18 | |
Come on. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:19 | |
Oh, my goodness! | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
I found one! | 0:26:26 | 0:26:27 | |
-Wow, they are extraordinary! -Yes. -I've never seen anything like them. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:35 | |
-They're well-named as pitcher plants, aren't they? -Yep. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:39 | |
-I see one there. -Where? | 0:26:52 | 0:26:54 | |
Yes, yes. OK, come. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
Come this way. | 0:26:56 | 0:26:57 | |
-See? -Wow! | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
-See? -They're huge! | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
-OK. -What would happen if you touched that? | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
Are you serious? What, if you put your finger in there? | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
OK. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:16 | |
'Thankfully harmless for humans, but not for unsuspecting insects.' | 0:27:16 | 0:27:21 | |
Oh, I see, it helps them get up there! | 0:27:32 | 0:27:33 | |
-Yes! -So it's clever, it lures the ants. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
-Yes. -They climb up and then they fall in. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:39 | |
-So it's like a trap. -Yes. | 0:27:39 | 0:27:41 | |
Fascinating! | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
I've never seen anything like that in my life. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:48 | |
These are truly intricate plants, | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
trapping ants and other insects that slip down the side of the pitcher | 0:27:52 | 0:27:56 | |
into a pool of digestive enzyme. | 0:27:56 | 0:27:59 | |
It's sticky and sweet down there and once the prey is in there, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
the body slowly dissolves. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:05 | |
It's a truly predatory plant. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:08 | |
Oh, my goodness, look at this one! | 0:28:12 | 0:28:14 | |
It's huge! | 0:28:14 | 0:28:16 | |
Look at it! | 0:28:16 | 0:28:18 | |
It's so beautiful, | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
the markings on the skin, | 0:28:20 | 0:28:22 | |
that aubergine and green colour. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:24 | |
Not only beautiful, but it's an incredible mechanism. | 0:28:25 | 0:28:29 | |
Having seen the pitcher plants up close, | 0:28:30 | 0:28:33 | |
I can totally see why Marianne wanted to paint them. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:37 | |
But I haven't yet seen the most impressive one of all, | 0:28:37 | 0:28:40 | |
the Nepenthes northiana, named after her. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:44 | |
To do that, I have to reach the limestone mountains | 0:28:44 | 0:28:48 | |
where they grow and cross the dense Sarawak jungle. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:52 | |
Marianne North stepped into the realm of the man. | 0:28:54 | 0:28:58 | |
I think she wanted to be taken seriously by her peers. | 0:28:58 | 0:29:01 | |
She didn't want to be perceived as frivolous. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:05 | |
She wanted to be perceived as a serious person. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:07 | |
Part of that seriousness was to travel | 0:29:07 | 0:29:10 | |
and do what it was that she did | 0:29:10 | 0:29:11 | |
and, quite often, in dangerous circumstances. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:15 | |
But with all its dangers, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:19 | |
the wild forest is still a botanical paradise. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:22 | |
"The banks of the river were a continual wonder all the way up. | 0:29:30 | 0:29:34 | |
"It almost took my breath away with its lovely, fairy-like beauty, | 0:29:36 | 0:29:42 | |
"entirely surrounded by virgin forests and grand mountains." | 0:29:42 | 0:29:48 | |
I'm following in Marianne's footsteps, | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
not only in search of pitcher plants, | 0:29:53 | 0:29:55 | |
but of all the other amazing flora she found. | 0:29:55 | 0:29:59 | |
I'd love to see one of the staghorn ferns that she painted. | 0:30:02 | 0:30:06 | |
Marianne's capturing plants in the wild before they disappear. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:12 | |
It's so dramatic, this scene, | 0:30:16 | 0:30:18 | |
under the canopy of these enormously tall trees. | 0:30:18 | 0:30:21 | |
And these ones that hang over the river, they're almost Jurassic. | 0:30:23 | 0:30:27 | |
They look like prehistoric animals, | 0:30:28 | 0:30:30 | |
you can totally understand why Marianne loved painting them. | 0:30:30 | 0:30:33 | |
'Guiding me through this tangle of trees and vegetation | 0:30:40 | 0:30:44 | |
'is ranger Rosli.' | 0:30:44 | 0:30:45 | |
It's super-humid, isn't it? | 0:30:48 | 0:30:49 | |
-Oh, yes. -Where are you taking me, Rosli? | 0:30:49 | 0:30:54 | |
I thought I was just coming to look at plants and gentle wildlife! | 0:31:01 | 0:31:06 | |
Well, I'm going to stamp my feet, then. | 0:31:09 | 0:31:11 | |
Not my favourite bit of our trip. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
What? | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
No! My goodness, let's get out of here! | 0:31:18 | 0:31:21 | |
What happened? | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
Yeah? | 0:31:30 | 0:31:31 | |
In front of you? | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
No! | 0:31:50 | 0:31:52 | |
Better than you being taken by the python, hey? | 0:31:59 | 0:32:02 | |
I've always thought of mangroves as quite spooky. | 0:32:14 | 0:32:17 | |
And they are. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:20 | |
'By all accounts, including her own, | 0:32:27 | 0:32:30 | |
'our fearless explorer relished being in the wild | 0:32:30 | 0:32:34 | |
'from dawn till dusk.' | 0:32:34 | 0:32:35 | |
"The torment of high society was a penance. | 0:32:35 | 0:32:38 | |
"But through here, at least, was a perfect world of wonders." | 0:32:38 | 0:32:43 | |
The noise here is amazing, isn't it? | 0:32:51 | 0:32:53 | |
Hearing the insect life and the birdlife, animal life. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:57 | |
There he is. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:12 | |
Oh! | 0:33:14 | 0:33:15 | |
Yes. | 0:33:17 | 0:33:18 | |
Yep. | 0:33:19 | 0:33:21 | |
That's extraordinary! | 0:33:23 | 0:33:24 | |
There's nothing quite prepares you | 0:33:26 | 0:33:28 | |
for seeing an animal like this in the wild. | 0:33:28 | 0:33:31 | |
He's a really unusual-looking character. | 0:33:32 | 0:33:34 | |
It's so exciting, it's incredible. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:40 | |
How on earth did Marianne do this? | 0:33:50 | 0:33:52 | |
It's hard to imagine how Marianne coped with the terrain | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
and the heat in her Victorian dress. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
With help, of course, | 0:34:13 | 0:34:15 | |
but carrying all her personal belongings and her art equipment | 0:34:15 | 0:34:19 | |
and she was so anxious to examine the plants | 0:34:19 | 0:34:21 | |
that she didn't want to be carried | 0:34:21 | 0:34:23 | |
in case she missed out on seeing them. | 0:34:23 | 0:34:26 | |
Thank you. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:31 | |
Oh, my goodness! | 0:34:33 | 0:34:35 | |
Is that what I think it is? | 0:34:35 | 0:34:37 | |
-Yes. -Is it a crinum? -Yes! | 0:34:38 | 0:34:39 | |
Crinum northianum, named after Marianne? | 0:34:39 | 0:34:42 | |
Yes! | 0:34:42 | 0:34:43 | |
And it is so exactly like what she paints. | 0:34:49 | 0:34:52 | |
Marion's depiction of this species in its natural surroundings | 0:34:52 | 0:34:56 | |
is sent to Kew, where a botanist realises | 0:34:56 | 0:34:59 | |
it's unknown to Western science. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:01 | |
It's officially named after her in 1882. | 0:35:01 | 0:35:05 | |
Marianne North is painting in the wild. | 0:35:06 | 0:35:08 | |
That is a hugely different process as an artist. | 0:35:08 | 0:35:12 | |
She's not assessing the specimen as a scientific illustrator would. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:18 | |
Rather, she is in there making a very emotional representation. | 0:35:18 | 0:35:22 | |
I can see why she fell in love with it here. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:27 | |
But behind this enchanting natural beauty, | 0:35:30 | 0:35:34 | |
Marianne faces many hidden dangers. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:37 | |
This is an age of primitive medicine. | 0:35:38 | 0:35:41 | |
Travel's a risk, tropical disease is rife and Marianne isn't immune. | 0:35:41 | 0:35:46 | |
"I had a terrible attack of my old pain. | 0:35:48 | 0:35:51 | |
"I was too weak to think of starting on any expedition for some time." | 0:35:51 | 0:35:56 | |
Over the course of her travels, she comes down with typhoid, influenza, | 0:35:58 | 0:36:03 | |
rheumatic fever, not to mention broken bones. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:06 | |
What she did was hard and treacherous. | 0:36:06 | 0:36:10 | |
But she never gave up. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
And neither will I. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:17 | |
I'm back on the hunt for that special pitcher plant, | 0:36:17 | 0:36:21 | |
the elusive Nepenthes northiana. | 0:36:21 | 0:36:23 | |
It's rare, lives at high altitude, | 0:36:23 | 0:36:27 | |
and finding it is not for the faint-hearted. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
Like Marianne, I have to travel 15 miles into the jungle | 0:36:32 | 0:36:36 | |
over broken bridges, through narrow caves, up Jurassic-like roots, | 0:36:36 | 0:36:43 | |
to reach the only place where the Nepenthes northiana might be found - | 0:36:43 | 0:36:47 | |
the ancient limestone mountains of Tegora. | 0:36:47 | 0:36:51 | |
When making her way through trackless terrain, | 0:36:54 | 0:36:57 | |
Marianne North has only one rule - | 0:36:57 | 0:36:59 | |
"not going willingly anywhere where I could not see my feet." | 0:36:59 | 0:37:04 | |
'But if I have any hope of seeing the Nepenthes northiana, | 0:37:09 | 0:37:13 | |
'I have to follow my own rules. | 0:37:13 | 0:37:15 | |
'The only way is up.' | 0:37:15 | 0:37:17 | |
Yeah. Good. | 0:37:17 | 0:37:21 | |
Ready to climb. | 0:37:21 | 0:37:22 | |
INDISTINCT INSTRUCTION OK. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
Let's see if there are any here. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:04 | |
Where are you? | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
No. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:20 | |
I think that's them! | 0:38:34 | 0:38:37 | |
The elusive Nepenthes northiana. | 0:38:37 | 0:38:40 | |
They're much redder than the pitcher plants I've already seen | 0:38:41 | 0:38:45 | |
and they've got a much larger mouth. | 0:38:45 | 0:38:48 | |
So high up. | 0:38:51 | 0:38:52 | |
Out of reach, but not out of sight. | 0:38:54 | 0:38:56 | |
I'm so excited! | 0:38:56 | 0:38:59 | |
Wow! | 0:39:10 | 0:39:12 | |
What a view! | 0:39:12 | 0:39:13 | |
It's absolutely incredible and worth all the sweat and climbing | 0:39:14 | 0:39:18 | |
to have caught a glimpse of this rare treasure | 0:39:18 | 0:39:21 | |
in its natural habitat. | 0:39:21 | 0:39:23 | |
And it was special when Marianne found it | 0:39:23 | 0:39:25 | |
because no-one had ever seen it before. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:27 | |
But it's even more special for me | 0:39:27 | 0:39:29 | |
because the Nepenthes northiana might not be around for much longer. | 0:39:29 | 0:39:34 | |
This particular species is now endangered, | 0:39:34 | 0:39:37 | |
its habitat being destroyed by pesticides and quarrying - | 0:39:37 | 0:39:42 | |
a fact that Marianne recognised 150 years ago. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
"It broke one's heart to think of man the civiliser | 0:39:50 | 0:39:54 | |
"wasting treasures in a few years | 0:39:54 | 0:39:55 | |
"to which savages and animals had done no harm for centuries." | 0:39:55 | 0:40:00 | |
In spite of her discovery, there is no stopping Miss North. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
She then travels across southern Asia, | 0:40:06 | 0:40:08 | |
ending up in India for 15 months, | 0:40:08 | 0:40:11 | |
where she painted over 200 pictures. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:13 | |
She finally returns to London in 1879. | 0:40:15 | 0:40:19 | |
BIG BEN CHIMES | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
What she finds is a very different scene | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
to when she abandoned British shores ten years ago. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
Scientists, artists and London society | 0:40:33 | 0:40:36 | |
are now starting to take her seriously. | 0:40:36 | 0:40:39 | |
Marianne exhibits some of her work at the Conduit Street Gallery. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:45 | |
Many flock to the event, | 0:40:45 | 0:40:48 | |
proving to the world that she is a true botanical explorer | 0:40:48 | 0:40:51 | |
as well as an artist. | 0:40:51 | 0:40:53 | |
"I am so puffed up with praise bestowed on my Tenerife work. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:58 | |
"I'm weak enough to like flattery better than snubbing!" | 0:40:58 | 0:41:01 | |
She was overwhelmed by the attention, | 0:41:05 | 0:41:07 | |
and soon an idea began to form in her mind. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:10 | |
Later that year, while waiting for a train at Shrewsbury Station, | 0:41:10 | 0:41:14 | |
she wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker, | 0:41:14 | 0:41:17 | |
asking if he would accept her paintings as a gift to Kew. | 0:41:17 | 0:41:20 | |
"It would be a great happiness | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
"to know my life had not been spent in vain - | 0:41:28 | 0:41:31 | |
"that I can leave something behind | 0:41:31 | 0:41:33 | |
"which will add to the pleasure of others." | 0:41:33 | 0:41:35 | |
Marianne refers to her first exhibition paintings | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
as "my children from Conduit Street". | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
After her father's death, it is art, not relationships, | 0:41:43 | 0:41:47 | |
that she yearns for. | 0:41:47 | 0:41:48 | |
In fact, she describes marriage as a terrible experiment. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
Marianne North was pursued by suitors, | 0:41:54 | 0:41:58 | |
but she never followed through. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
She wasn't particularly serious about their affections towards her. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
"I have no love to give you, or anyone. | 0:42:07 | 0:42:10 | |
"It has all gone with him. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:13 | |
"I have not the smallest intention of marrying you or anybody else." | 0:42:13 | 0:42:17 | |
But there is one man who would become Marianne's closest friend | 0:42:19 | 0:42:23 | |
since her father. In him, she finds a soulmate. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:27 | |
With the case of Dr Burnell, | 0:42:27 | 0:42:29 | |
North is very taken by him, I think. | 0:42:29 | 0:42:32 | |
She admires his intellect. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:35 | |
"Dear Dr Burnell, | 0:42:35 | 0:42:38 | |
"I am not the only one to whom it will be a joy to see you again. | 0:42:38 | 0:42:41 | |
"There must be very many." | 0:42:41 | 0:42:43 | |
I think it was a deliberate choice not to marry | 0:42:43 | 0:42:47 | |
because it may well have stifled her project. | 0:42:47 | 0:42:51 | |
"So, you need not fear my designs on your freedom." | 0:42:51 | 0:42:55 | |
For Marianne, marriage meant a loss of freedom. | 0:42:59 | 0:43:04 | |
If she had have married, | 0:43:04 | 0:43:05 | |
her finances would have become her husband's. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:09 | |
Inevitably, marriage would have also constrained her | 0:43:09 | 0:43:12 | |
in terms of how she chose to live. | 0:43:12 | 0:43:15 | |
Since her father died, she didn't know what to do with herself, | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
other than paint. | 0:43:21 | 0:43:22 | |
She did carry that grief around with her | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
and I don't think that she would have known how to really sit still. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:33 | |
It does make me think that it was her love | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
for plant hunting and painting that left no room for anything else. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:43 | |
Her work IS her life. | 0:43:43 | 0:43:45 | |
But her life's work extended far beyond just her paintings. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:55 | |
She wanted recognition, | 0:43:59 | 0:44:01 | |
to make an indelible impression on the scientific establishment, | 0:44:01 | 0:44:05 | |
and she did just that. | 0:44:05 | 0:44:06 | |
I'm back at Kew, to find out exactly how Marianne made her mark | 0:44:15 | 0:44:18 | |
on the male-dominated world of natural science. | 0:44:18 | 0:44:22 | |
Kew was and is the unrivalled authority on botanical research. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:28 | |
In the days before genetics, | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
microscopy and high-res photography, | 0:44:31 | 0:44:34 | |
a carefully dried specimen would be sent here, to the herbarium, | 0:44:34 | 0:44:38 | |
to be described and recorded. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:40 | |
So this looks like a very old specimen to me. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:44 | |
Yes, this is quite old. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:46 | |
This is a kniphofia. | 0:44:46 | 0:44:48 | |
Otherwise known as the red-hot poker? | 0:44:48 | 0:44:49 | |
Yes. Commonly known as the red-hot poker. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:52 | |
It's actually Kniphofia northiae, | 0:44:52 | 0:44:55 | |
named after the lady who collected it. | 0:44:55 | 0:44:57 | |
-Marianne North. -Yes, Marianne North. | 0:44:57 | 0:45:00 | |
And she did so in 1883, when she made a painting of it. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:05 | |
I can actually show you what this looks like, | 0:45:05 | 0:45:08 | |
which is in here, | 0:45:08 | 0:45:10 | |
when I can find the right page. | 0:45:10 | 0:45:12 | |
-There we are. -Ah! | 0:45:12 | 0:45:15 | |
So, a little bit more recognisable, perhaps, as a red-hot poker there. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:19 | |
-Yes. -Than this dried specimen here, which has obviously lost its colour. | 0:45:19 | 0:45:23 | |
It is very, very old. | 0:45:23 | 0:45:25 | |
It is very old and very precious. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
'The red-hot poker is only one of the four species, | 0:45:28 | 0:45:31 | |
'including a genus, named after Marianne. | 0:45:31 | 0:45:34 | |
'There is the Northea seychellana, | 0:45:34 | 0:45:37 | |
'the beautiful Crinum northianum that I spotted in the jungle, | 0:45:37 | 0:45:40 | |
'and, of course, the magnificent Nepenthes northiana.' | 0:45:40 | 0:45:45 | |
I can't believe that I'm actually seeing it here. | 0:45:45 | 0:45:47 | |
Is that quite unusual, | 0:45:49 | 0:45:50 | |
to have your name permanently attached to a plant? | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
Yes, it is. I mean, | 0:45:53 | 0:45:56 | |
there are obviously lots of people who have a plant named after them. | 0:45:56 | 0:45:59 | |
-Right. -But generally speaking, they were professionals. | 0:45:59 | 0:46:03 | |
Marianne wasn't a professional scientist herself. | 0:46:03 | 0:46:05 | |
And so, yes, it was really quite unusual. | 0:46:05 | 0:46:08 | |
-Incredible. -Yes, she was quite an incredible woman | 0:46:08 | 0:46:11 | |
-in many, many respects. -Yeah. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:13 | |
'There's no doubt that Marianne's artistic vision | 0:46:13 | 0:46:16 | |
'was drastically radical in its time. | 0:46:16 | 0:46:20 | |
'Traditional scientific illustration | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
'depicts a single plant on a white background, | 0:46:23 | 0:46:26 | |
'whereas Marianne places the plant in its natural habitat, | 0:46:26 | 0:46:29 | |
'surrounded by other plants and animals - | 0:46:29 | 0:46:32 | |
'a vision that reflected a controversial | 0:46:32 | 0:46:35 | |
'and essentially Darwinian perspective.' | 0:46:35 | 0:46:38 | |
And what was her relationship to Darwin and Darwin's theories? | 0:46:38 | 0:46:42 | |
He'd known her since she was a child, | 0:46:42 | 0:46:44 | |
because he was a friend of her father's. | 0:46:44 | 0:46:46 | |
So we know that he very much appreciated her artwork | 0:46:46 | 0:46:50 | |
and I think that was because they did bring to life his theories | 0:46:50 | 0:46:56 | |
and made them more understandable for the average person. | 0:46:56 | 0:47:00 | |
Marianne read Darwin's Origin Of Species, published in 1859. | 0:47:01 | 0:47:06 | |
From then on, she eagerly embraces his theory of evolution. | 0:47:06 | 0:47:11 | |
"He was, in my eyes, the greatest man living. | 0:47:11 | 0:47:15 | |
"The most truthful, as well as the most selfless and modest. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:21 | |
"Always trying to give others, rather than himself, | 0:47:21 | 0:47:25 | |
"the credit of his own great thoughts and work." | 0:47:25 | 0:47:29 | |
In 1880, Darwin bestowed her with the highest accolade. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:35 | |
"I was much flattered at his wishing to see me. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:39 | |
"And when he said he thought I ought not to attempt | 0:47:39 | 0:47:42 | |
"any representation of the vegetation of the world | 0:47:42 | 0:47:44 | |
"until I had seen and painted the Australian, | 0:47:44 | 0:47:47 | |
"I determined to take it as a royal command and to go at once." | 0:47:47 | 0:47:52 | |
Marianne spends close to a year travelling across Australia, | 0:47:53 | 0:47:57 | |
Tasmania and New Zealand. | 0:47:57 | 0:47:59 | |
She produces over 300 pictures, | 0:47:59 | 0:48:02 | |
which she proudly shares with Darwin. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
"I am so glad that I have seen your Australian pictures. | 0:48:05 | 0:48:09 | |
"I am often able to call up with considerable vividness | 0:48:09 | 0:48:14 | |
"scenes which I have seen, but my mind in this respect | 0:48:14 | 0:48:19 | |
"must be a mere barren waste compared with your mind. | 0:48:19 | 0:48:23 | |
"I remain, dear Miss North, yours truly obliged, Charles Darwin." | 0:48:23 | 0:48:30 | |
What would you say Marianne's place in botanical history is? | 0:48:30 | 0:48:34 | |
She's left us a really quite important legacy. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:37 | |
I mean, as well as the plants that she actually discovered, | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
she is one of the first people | 0:48:40 | 0:48:42 | |
who has really taken these images of plants | 0:48:42 | 0:48:45 | |
in their natural environment and used it to educate and inform | 0:48:45 | 0:48:48 | |
at a more popular level. | 0:48:48 | 0:48:50 | |
These are to help the public understand the botanical world. | 0:48:50 | 0:48:54 | |
I think we find Marianne North's paintings so fascinating | 0:48:58 | 0:49:01 | |
because we see her abandoning herself to her instincts, | 0:49:01 | 0:49:05 | |
following these Darwinian theories and mixing those together. | 0:49:05 | 0:49:10 | |
That's what we admire and can appreciate now, | 0:49:10 | 0:49:12 | |
rather than seeing just a sort of rule-breaking eccentric. | 0:49:12 | 0:49:17 | |
Marianne North dedicated her life | 0:49:20 | 0:49:23 | |
to preserving our most precious asset - nature. | 0:49:23 | 0:49:27 | |
Yet that dream came at a price. | 0:49:27 | 0:49:30 | |
The relentless travelling and persistent illnesses she suffered | 0:49:30 | 0:49:34 | |
claimed her life at the young age of 59. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:38 | |
And it's here at Kew, the place she loved and respected most, | 0:49:39 | 0:49:45 | |
where her greatest legacy lives - | 0:49:45 | 0:49:47 | |
the Marianne North Gallery. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
Sir Joseph Hooker accepted her proposal and this humble building, | 0:49:53 | 0:49:57 | |
built at her own expense, opened in 1882. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:02 | |
It houses the longest permanent solo exhibition | 0:50:02 | 0:50:06 | |
by a female artist in the world. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:09 | |
SHE GASPS | 0:50:12 | 0:50:14 | |
This is spectacular! | 0:50:19 | 0:50:21 | |
This is the most beautiful... | 0:50:31 | 0:50:34 | |
I mean, it's phenomenal. | 0:50:35 | 0:50:37 | |
And in a time before colour photography, | 0:50:46 | 0:50:48 | |
you can see how important these pictures are. | 0:50:48 | 0:50:53 | |
To record these environments, these plants, the animals... | 0:50:53 | 0:50:58 | |
There's the pitcher plant... | 0:51:01 | 0:51:02 | |
Pitcher PLANTS that I saw in Borneo. | 0:51:04 | 0:51:08 | |
I mean, there's such a vivid documentation. | 0:51:10 | 0:51:12 | |
It shows you how important it was that she learnt to paint with oil | 0:51:12 | 0:51:17 | |
because that has perfectly preserved the colours. | 0:51:17 | 0:51:20 | |
Mangosteen. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
Staghorn fern. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:27 | |
It's so exciting seeing them here, having actually been to Borneo! | 0:51:27 | 0:51:32 | |
I can't quite believe it. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:36 | |
The Marianne North Gallery functions much like a moving image, almost, | 0:51:39 | 0:51:44 | |
as one travels through | 0:51:44 | 0:51:46 | |
and I think she was very aware of the visitor moving their own body | 0:51:46 | 0:51:50 | |
through her gallery and thereby travelling the world, | 0:51:50 | 0:51:53 | |
taking in one place at a time | 0:51:53 | 0:51:56 | |
and really being able to visit all of those places that she recorded. | 0:51:56 | 0:52:01 | |
This is an art gallery like no other. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
All 832 of Marianne's paintings fill each and every wall, | 0:52:04 | 0:52:09 | |
floor to ceiling, | 0:52:09 | 0:52:11 | |
a permanent record of the five continents | 0:52:11 | 0:52:14 | |
and the 17 countries she travelled to. | 0:52:14 | 0:52:17 | |
'Someone who knows these snapshots of the world inside out | 0:52:19 | 0:52:23 | |
'is former gallery curator Laura Giuffrida.' | 0:52:23 | 0:52:26 | |
Lovely to meet you. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:27 | |
So this is Jamaica. | 0:52:27 | 0:52:30 | |
This is where she started her travels to the tropics. | 0:52:30 | 0:52:33 | |
So she spent five months here | 0:52:33 | 0:52:36 | |
and of course, you can imagine the longing to see the tropics. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:39 | |
-Yes. -She stepped off the boat and then was literally in ecstasy. | 0:52:39 | 0:52:42 | |
'Marianne's passion for adventure never faded. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:46 | |
'From Jamaica to Japan, South Africa to the Seychelles, | 0:52:46 | 0:52:51 | |
'she captured the world's plants.' | 0:52:51 | 0:52:54 | |
Across to Chile, and this is where Marianne made her last voyage. | 0:52:54 | 0:52:58 | |
She was very tired at this stage. | 0:52:58 | 0:53:00 | |
-I'm not surprised! -But she was determined, | 0:53:00 | 0:53:02 | |
determined to find and paint the blue puya. | 0:53:02 | 0:53:06 | |
She rode up the mountain, | 0:53:06 | 0:53:08 | |
she got off on foot | 0:53:08 | 0:53:10 | |
and there they were - a revealed stand of the blue puyas. | 0:53:10 | 0:53:13 | |
Breathtaking! | 0:53:15 | 0:53:16 | |
It was an idea of presenting nature, free to the public to come and view. | 0:53:18 | 0:53:21 | |
Nobody really accomplished that | 0:53:21 | 0:53:24 | |
and so she does something quite extraordinary | 0:53:24 | 0:53:27 | |
in that she presents what the men couldn't. | 0:53:27 | 0:53:31 | |
It really is the world in one room, isn't it? | 0:53:31 | 0:53:33 | |
-It is, exactly! -She's captured it. | 0:53:33 | 0:53:36 | |
And that's quite a legacy, isn't it, for her? | 0:53:36 | 0:53:39 | |
It really, really is a legacy. | 0:53:39 | 0:53:41 | |
This is all about her passion, her intensity, | 0:53:41 | 0:53:43 | |
-all captured here within this gallery. -Yes. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
I think Marianne North was ahead of her time | 0:53:48 | 0:53:50 | |
in relation to how she was able to present that gallery. | 0:53:50 | 0:53:52 | |
If you would look at the way that museums operate today, | 0:53:52 | 0:53:56 | |
they're bringing in that kind of spectacle. | 0:53:56 | 0:54:00 | |
What a vision! In fact, I've got the original plans. | 0:54:00 | 0:54:04 | |
-So, can I show you? -Yes, please! | 0:54:06 | 0:54:09 | |
-So, we open very carefully... -Wow! | 0:54:09 | 0:54:11 | |
-You hold on to that end. -I will. | 0:54:11 | 0:54:12 | |
Isn't it amazing to think that she was holding this piece of paper? | 0:54:14 | 0:54:18 | |
Absolutely. I think of her there with her ruler | 0:54:18 | 0:54:20 | |
and her little pencil in the gaslight or whatever | 0:54:20 | 0:54:23 | |
of Victoria Street. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:25 | |
They're all numbered. | 0:54:25 | 0:54:27 | |
So this is her plan, in fact, for this wall. | 0:54:27 | 0:54:29 | |
The absolute lack of any space in between the paintings | 0:54:31 | 0:54:35 | |
echoes the way in which there was almost no space | 0:54:35 | 0:54:38 | |
other than the paintings in her life. | 0:54:38 | 0:54:41 | |
I mean, it's so careful, isn't it? | 0:54:41 | 0:54:44 | |
It's like a jigsaw puzzle. | 0:54:44 | 0:54:46 | |
In some cases, she did have to add little extensions on. | 0:54:46 | 0:54:49 | |
-Oh, did she? -If you look very carefully, | 0:54:49 | 0:54:51 | |
-you can actually see where she's added pieces to the frame. -Yes. | 0:54:51 | 0:54:56 | |
I mean, it feels like she was quite obsessive | 0:54:56 | 0:54:58 | |
in almost everything that she did, really. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:01 | |
Yes, I think so. I think she had to visit, you know, | 0:55:01 | 0:55:03 | |
her 17 countries to capture the plants that she wanted to paint | 0:55:03 | 0:55:07 | |
and I think this gallery, condensing them all here, | 0:55:07 | 0:55:10 | |
is a reflection of that. | 0:55:10 | 0:55:11 | |
I feel that Marianne's paintings | 0:55:11 | 0:55:14 | |
were definitely a sort of mechanism for survival. | 0:55:14 | 0:55:18 | |
That's the one overriding feeling you get when you go to the gallery | 0:55:20 | 0:55:25 | |
is that it is the product of an obsessive mind, | 0:55:25 | 0:55:29 | |
those sort of 800-odd paintings crammed into this space | 0:55:29 | 0:55:33 | |
give you a real sense of how hard she worked during that time. | 0:55:33 | 0:55:40 | |
Despite exhaustion, Marianne is bent on doing things her own way. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:45 | |
Part of her vision for the gallery | 0:55:45 | 0:55:47 | |
is to offer tea and coffee to the public. | 0:55:47 | 0:55:50 | |
But Kew refuses. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:53 | |
Now, anybody other than Marianne would just take that and accept it. | 0:55:53 | 0:55:57 | |
But not Marianne North. | 0:55:57 | 0:55:59 | |
She took her case to the House of Commons | 0:56:01 | 0:56:03 | |
and they, too, turned it down. | 0:56:03 | 0:56:05 | |
Here she was, battling against government, | 0:56:05 | 0:56:09 | |
battling against Parliament, | 0:56:09 | 0:56:11 | |
against a male-dominated world | 0:56:11 | 0:56:14 | |
and she's determined to get her own way. | 0:56:14 | 0:56:16 | |
So she decided - very cunningly, I think - | 0:56:16 | 0:56:19 | |
to paint the plant of the tea and coffee in the gallery. | 0:56:19 | 0:56:26 | |
So, over one doorway, we have tea | 0:56:26 | 0:56:28 | |
and over the other, coffee. | 0:56:28 | 0:56:30 | |
It shows she had not only a determination, steely determination, | 0:56:31 | 0:56:35 | |
but she also had a sense of humour, and that's what I like about them. | 0:56:35 | 0:56:39 | |
I wish there were more Mariannes in the world. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:43 | |
Seeing the paintings and feeling the atmosphere in here, | 0:56:44 | 0:56:48 | |
it's much more about her love of nature and the wonder of nature. | 0:56:48 | 0:56:54 | |
I think that she just wanted other people to know | 0:56:54 | 0:56:57 | |
and to celebrate nature in the way that she felt it. | 0:56:57 | 0:57:01 | |
I believe you're right. | 0:57:01 | 0:57:02 | |
I don't think there was any pretension. | 0:57:02 | 0:57:04 | |
See just had the passion to see plants | 0:57:04 | 0:57:06 | |
and to capture them, to paint them. | 0:57:06 | 0:57:09 | |
-Makes me want to cry! -She was amazing. She was amazing. | 0:57:12 | 0:57:16 | |
-She was an incredible woman. -She was amazing. | 0:57:16 | 0:57:19 | |
I think Marianne North was happy to break artistic rules, | 0:57:22 | 0:57:26 | |
was happy to break scientific rules, | 0:57:26 | 0:57:27 | |
in order to produce a vision that was very much her own | 0:57:27 | 0:57:31 | |
and that is what was so unique about her as a woman in the 19th century | 0:57:31 | 0:57:35 | |
and what makes her very inspiring today. | 0:57:35 | 0:57:37 | |
"Begin now by observing as much as you can of what nature teaches | 0:57:39 | 0:57:44 | |
"and you will find a new happiness in life." | 0:57:44 | 0:57:47 | |
I'm actually a bit sad that my journey with Marianne | 0:57:51 | 0:57:54 | |
is coming to an end. | 0:57:54 | 0:57:56 | |
But I feel so privileged to have been invited into her family, | 0:57:56 | 0:58:00 | |
to have read her personal writings and memoirs, | 0:58:00 | 0:58:03 | |
and to have travelled in her footsteps in breathtaking Borneo. | 0:58:03 | 0:58:07 | |
And now, I can embrace all of that | 0:58:11 | 0:58:13 | |
seeing these life-affirming paintings. | 0:58:13 | 0:58:17 | |
I have wandered through her world and wondered at her world. | 0:58:17 | 0:58:21 | |
I only wish I could have met her. | 0:58:21 | 0:58:24 |