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Digitalis and Morning Glory - Image 1
Digitalis and Morning Glory - Image 2
Public Domain

Karl Bodmer

Digitalis and Morning Glory

1839

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Karl Bodmer

Digitalis and Morning Glory

1839

Physical Qualities Transparent and opaque watercolor over graphite on paper, Sheet: 283 × 202 mm. (11 1/8 × 7 15/16 in.)
Credit Line The George A. Lucas Collection, purchased with funds from the State of Maryland, Laurence and Stella Bendann Fund, and contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations throughout the Baltimore community
Object Number 1996.48.7192
Whether depicting indigenous or non-native plant species and trees, these works are united in their close observations of the natural world. Take a moment to explore how each artist depicted nature’s vitality. Eugène-Stanislas-Alexandre Bléry’s etching, The Branches of an Oak Tree, reflects imagery associated with the French national landscape. Jules Ferdinand Jacquemart’s Tropical Plants documents an interest in the plants of different climates, indicating the ecological traces of France’s colonial projects in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Karl Bodmer’s detailed Digitalis and Morning Glory captures how plant species, like people, traveled across continents over centuries. By the time he made this drawing, European foxglove and this Central American species of morning glory were thriving on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1996; The Maryland Institute College of Art,
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Watercolors and Drawings from the George A. Lucas Collection', July 24-Oct. 14, 1990.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'The George A. Lucas Collection of the Maryland Institute', Oct. 12-Nov. 21, 1965, p. 64, no. 316.

Joanna Karlgaard and Robin Owen Joyce, BMA, "Deconstructing Nature: Environmental Transformation in the Lucas Collection," August 27, 2025 - January 11, 2026.

Inscribed: RECTO: UL, brown ink over graphite, 'Digitalis ambigua. varieta'; graphite, 'D. paniculata'; UR, graphite, 'Ipomaea purpurea/amér mérid.'; LR, graphite, 'Bodmer fecit'; in image, brown ink, 'Bodmer'; VERSO: LR, blue ink stamp, 'M.I. LUCAS COLLECTION'

Markings: Watermark: 'J WH/ TURK/ 18' (J WHATMAN/ TURKEY MILL/ 18--)

Artist

Karl Bodmer

1808–1892

Swiss, 1809-1893
Meet Karl Bodmer

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