BANGALORE: Very soon the botanical illustrations (dating back to 1800s) of all the rare species of plants found in Lalbagh Botanical Garden which was till date preserved by the horticulture authorities at their library will be restored and displayed at Dr M H Marigowda Hall on the Lalbagh premises.Speaking to City Express, Dr S Aswath, joint director of Horticulture (Parks and Gardens) said, “The process is already on.The Horticulture Department in association with the Bangalore Environment Trust (BET) has just completed compiling the collection in the form of a catalogue which runs into three volumes.” “Since these paintings are very old, we are consulting with Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath authorities; Shrishti School of Art, Design and Technology and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) as to what would be the best possible way to preserve and display this collection, what types of frames and what sort of paper would be best for it,” he said.A meeting to discuss all these was also held at the Horticulture Department on Friday.“We are hoping to finish the process by August 2012, so that during the Independence Day flower show we can display the illustrations.After this, we are also planning to come up with a book on botanical art,” he added. “The illustration was commissioned by John Cameron who was then the Superintendent of Lalbagh Botanical Garden from 1874-1908.There are about 1,020 botanical illustrations — about 701 are natural watercolours, 291 pencil drawings, 14 ink drawings and 14 lithographic prints done by noted artist of the time — K Cheluviah Raju,” he said.When asked about the sudden idea of its restoration Dr Aswath said, “Discussions were on since 2006. But we were unable to get the proper people. Through this we wanted to offer a glimpse of the history of various rare plant species which had been hidden from public view.”
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