Accession No
6662.8
Brief Description
Folder of 23 paintings/drawings labelled "Lettuce," no. 8 of 35, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
Origin
England; Cambridgeshire
Maker
Dillon Weston, W. A. R.
Class
natural history
Earliest Date
1932
Latest Date
1938
Inscription Date
Material
paper
Dimensions
365mm x 250mm
Special Collection
Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston Collection
Provenance
Inscription
Many pages have typed notes; see Description Notes.
Description Notes
Folder of 23 paintings/drawings labelled "Lettuce," no. 8 of 35, by Dr W. A. R. Dillon Weston, English, 1930s
NOTE: all objects have been transferred into archive folders for conservation purposes; original folders were photographed (see Images) and are stored separately.
6662.8.a -- "Downy Mildew of the Lettuce."
A watercolour painting of the intercellular mycelium, magnified. Covered with a sheet of wax paper. On the back of the sheet there are various binomials, in pencil, which refer to fungi that affect plants other than lettuces (Phoma lingam, which attacks cabbage and other brassica; and Pyrenophora graminea, which attacks barley).
6662.8.b -- "Lettuce Diseases."
This page of typed notes is a summary of academic discussion between Dr. Kenneth Smith, Dr. Paine and Miss Lacey on the subject of B. marginale, a disease affecting lettuce crops.
6662.8.c -- "Lettuce marginal browing Tip-burn"
A watercolour painting of a lettuce plant, covered with a sheet of wax paper. Information given on the farm of origin, date (1 June 1934), and correspondence with Dr. Bewley of Hertfordshire who first received the sample.
6662.8.d -- "Downy Mildew of the Lettuce. Bremia lactucae, Regel."
A watercolour diagram of a conidiophore, covered with a sheet of wax paper. The typed label indicated the magnification (x1000) and how germination occurs.
6662.8.e -- "Lettuce Mildew (Bremia lactucae.)
A watercolour painting of an infected lettuce leaf covered with a sheet of wax paper. Received May 1934.
6662.8.f -- "Downy Mildew of the Lettuce. Bremia lactucae, Regel."
A typed page describing the fungus and how it appears under a microscope, and reproduces.
6662.8.g --
A second typed page suggesting control measures for the above disease, both in the field and under glass (in a greenhouse).
6662.8.h -- "Downy Mildew of the Lettuce. Bremia lactucae, Regel."
A watercolour painting of an infected lettuce leaf covered with a sheet of wax paper. The typed label suggests that other parasites may be found on such infected leaves.
6662.8.i -- "Botrytis cinerea."
A watercolour painting of an infected lettuce plant covered with a sheet of wax paper. The label indicates the farm of origin and date (April 1936).
6662.8.j -- "Rotting at the Heart of Lettuce. Botrytis cinerea"
A watercolour painting of lettuce with notes on the farm of origin, variety, and date (1 June 1934).
6662.8.k -- "NECK ROT. Botrytis sp."
A watercolour painting of lettuce covered with a sheet of wax paper.
6662.8.l -- "Botrytis sp."
A watercolour painting of lettuce, labelled Terrington, 10 May 1935.
6662.8.m -- "Start of Neck Rot. Botrytis sp."
A watercolour painting of lettuce covered with a sheet of wax paper.
6662.8.n -- "Ring Spot. Marssononia Panattoniana."
A watercolour of an infected lettuce.
6662.8.o --
A typed page with date (12 June 1934) indicating that the cause of the "trouble" with the lettuce leaves on the following three pages (originally attached with a paper clip) has not yet been found. Three suggestions are given.
6662.8.p -- "Marginal Leaf Browning of Lettuce."
Five watercolour paintings of browned lettuce leaves. The origin and date (July 1933) are noted, along with observations and possible causes.
6662.8.q -- "Marginal Leaf Browning of Lettuce."
One watercolour painting of browned lettuce leaves. The origin and date (July 1933) are noted, along with observations and possible causes.
6662.8.r -- "Marginal Leaf Browning of Lettuce."
One watercolour painting of browned lettuce leaves. The origin and date (July 1933) are noted, along with observations and possible causes.
6662.8.s -- "Lettuce. Suspected Virus disease 'Mosaic'."
A watercolour painting/drawing of a lettuce leaf, with speculations as to the cause, and notes on the appearance and farm of origin, and date (19 April 1934).
6662.8.t -- "Lettuce."
Two watercolour paintings showing infected lettuce leaves. The typed notes comment on the appearance and potential cause. Farm of origin and date (19 April 1934) noted.
6662.8.u -- "Mosaic."
A watercolour painting of a lettuce leaf, with farm of origin and date (April 1936) noted.
6662.8.v -- "Lettuce. Frost Damage."
A watercolour painting of a lettuce leaf, with farm of origin and date (March 1936) noted.
6662.8.w -- "Lettuce mosaic."
A watercolour painting of a lettuce plant, with farm of origin and date noted. Covered with a sheet of wax paper.
References
Events
Description
Dr. W.A.R. Dillon Weston spent all of his professional life in Cambridge. After obtaining his degree in Natural Sciences at St. Catharine’s College, Dr. Dillon Weston gained employment as a mycologist (an expert in the study of fungi) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Ministry Pathologists at that time were stationed at universities, where teaching and supervision of students were included as part of their duties.
During the 1930’s, Dillon Weston produced nearly 1,000 watercolour paintings of plants suffering from a wide variety of afflictions: mostly various fungal infections, but also pest attacks, nutrient deficiencies, and bad farming practices. These drawings were produced in connection with his position at the Ministry, which he described as forming a “link between the farm and the research station.” Farmers would send samples of afflicted crops to the Ministry, and Dillon Weston would diagnose the problem and offer solutions. This work was an example of the emerging school of “New” or “Economic” Botany, in which economically important plant diseases were studied with an eye to increasing crop yields.
Typed notes accompanying the paintings suggest that many of them were depictions of samples received by Dillon Weston at the Ministry, though it is unclear why he made them. Like his glass fungi models, also held by the Whipple (Wh.5826), the paintings may have been a hobby undertaken during bouts of insomnia. Some of the paintings are demonstrative or didactic in nature, and Dillon Weston may have used them in his lectures at the university, which he endeavoured to make “as interesting as possible,” according to a 1952 profile in Varsity, the Cambridge student newspaper.
The paintings demonstrate a careful attention to detail and a desire for accurate representation, which sometimes led Dillon Weston to push up against the limits of flat, two-dimensional representation. For example, he used painted cotton stuffing underneath layers of paper to imitate spores bulging up underneath a scab on an apple tree (Wh.6662.28, Wh.6662.29), and splashes of blue watercolour paint to demonstrate how far fungal spores can be spread by raindrops (6662.10).
12/09/2018
Created by: Matthew Green on 12/09/2018
FM:47330
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