“Inspiring Kew“, an exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, ngland, reveals the ways Kew has been a source of inspiration, from the creation of the original ‘physic’ garden in 1759 to its position today as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The exhibition, open through February 1, 2015, showcases contemporary and historic paintings, and other material from Kew’s extensive Art, Archive and Library collections. It includes a recently acquired and never previously exhibited painting of a rose produced by Princess Charlotte, eldest daughter of George III, at Kew in 1789, together with work by one of the great masters of the golden age of botanical painting, Franz Bauer.

Paintings that resulted from the HMS Endeavour voyage of 1768 are displayed alongside contemporary botanical illustrations by Lucy Smith that were made during her 2001 journey from Australia to Indonesia on a replica of the Endeavour.

Rachel Pedder-Smith’s 18-foot-long Herbarium Specimen Painting (detail, above left), previously shown in the gallery in 2012, also is on view.