One of my summer pleasures was reading the biography Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, by Linda Lear, (a gift from a friend who knows my love of nature). I grew up reading Beatrix Potter books as a child, and read them to our son when he was young. The stories are full of life, and the pictures are very appealing. Two of my favorites are The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tailor of Gloucester. But I learned Beatrix had other accomplishments.
She was born in Victorian London to a wealthy family, and lived from 1866 to 1943. As young woman she sketched and drew from nature, especially animals and plants. She was an amateur botanist, specializing in the study of mushrooms, then wrote and illustrated her children's books. In her middle years, Potter bought several farms in England’s Lake District, including Hill Top Farm. She immersed herself in fell farming, breeding Herdwick sheep, and managing her properties. She also became interested in preserving the countryside, and the legacy of fell farming, and began buying up property in the Lake District. In her forties, she married William Heelis, and together they managed the properties, with the plan to turn them over to the National Trust.
Reading this biography makes me want to re-read her books (it has been a few years), and look for some of the details from her life that show up in the illustrations and stories. It was interesting to learn about her botanical pursuits, which were thwarted because she was a woman, and how she pursued publishing as a means to economic independence. Beatrix Potter was an artist, writer, botanist, landlord, farmer, gardener, business woman, and visionary preservationist. To learn more: http://www.bpotter.com/.
No comments:
Post a Comment