Capturing Nature Exhibition

Throughout summer, a selection of rare nature printed works from Zucker Art Books will be on display in the Herbarium Room at Oxford Botanic Garden exploring the art of nature printing.

Hailed as the earliest precursor to photography, nature printing is the practice of taking impressions from the surface of natural objects such as leaves, flowering plants, ferns, seaweed, snakes and more to produce an image on paper. Nature printing was popular with botanists in the 18th century as an aid in their study of useful and medicinal plants. By printing directly from the specimens themselves, they were able to represent the plants in an affordable way and to great effect.