Prunus domestica Wickson
1905
Floating in a sea of creamy white paper, this speckled yellow-green fruit looks almost good enough to eat—except for those suspicious brown blemishes! Handwritten notes at the bottom reveal the truth: this is an 'Unmarketable' specimen, painted by Ellen Isham Schutt in 1905. Schutt was a prolific botanical illustrator for the USDA, creating thousands of these delicate watercolors to document American fruit varieties long before color photography was reliable. It's a beautiful scientific record of agricultural history, proving that even imperfect produce deserves a masterpiece portrait.
- Technique
- watercolor
- Material
- paper