Accession No
6662.25
Brief Description
Folder of 25 paintings/drawings labelled "Trees," no. 25 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 25 paintings/drawings labelled "Trees," no. 25 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.
6662.25.a -- "Botrytis cinerea. Mulberry"
A watercolour of infected mulberry leaves and fruit. Typed notes describe the specimen and the fungus.
6662.25.b --
Unlabelled watercolour of a leaf.
6662.25.c --
Unlabelled watercolour of a leaf.
6662.25.d --
Unlabelled watercolour of a leaf and stem.
6662.25.e --
Unlabelled watercolour of a leaf.
6662.25.f --
Unlabelled watercolour of a leaf.
6662.25.g --
Unlabelled watercolour of a leaf.
6662.25.h -- "Poplar rust. Melampsora lavici populina."
Watercolour of a poplar leaf; dated 16 October 1933.
6662.25.i -- "Poplar rust. Melampsora lavici populina."
Watercolour of a poplar leaf.
6662.25.j -- "Nectria sp."
Watercolour of a section of beech bark.
6662.25.k -- "Kylaria sp."
Watercolour of a section of beech bark with typed notes describing the specimen.
6662.25.l -- "Armillaria sp."
Portion of an infected beech tree branch, typed notes describe the specimen.
6662.25.m -- "HONEY FUNGUS. Armillaria mellea, (Vahl) Fr."
Watercolour scene of a tree trunk in soil, with several mushrooms growing where the tree meets the ground.
6662.25.n --
Unlabelled drawing of a segment of a infected tree branch.
6662.25.o --
Unlabelled drawing of a segment of a infected tree branch. (?).
6662.25.p --
Unlabelled drawing of a segment of a infected tree branch.
6662.25.q --
Unlabelled drawing of a soil cross-section with roots.
6662.25.r --
Unlabelled drawing of a soil cross-section with roots.
6662.25.s --
Watercolour of an infected oak leaf.
6662.25.t -- "Lime leaf with galls caused by the presence of Eriophyes tiliae"
Watercolour of an infected leaf.
6662.25.u -- "Sycamore leaf studded with galls of Eriophyes macrorrhynchus."
Watercolour of an infected leaf.
6662.25.v -- "LABURNUM LEAVES"
Watercolour of an infected leaf with description of the specimen, dated 10 October 1933.
6662.25.w --
Unlabelled drawing of a branch and berry.
6662.25.x -- "Oak."
Watercolour of an oak branch and leaves; dated September 1934.
6662.25.y -- "Spotting on Vine shoots."
Watercolour of an infected vine stem. Typed notes describe the specimen and possible problems; dated January 1934.
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:47349
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