Daffodils in a jug

Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.

Potter drew flowers from a young age, when she drew inspiration from books about flowers and began to make careful studies from life. Her flower studies reference the accurate depiction associated with Botanical illustration but also celebrate the beauty of the subject.

This highly finished study of daffodils in a vase was circulated to members of a drawing society Potter belonged to in London. Some of their comments are preserved on the back of the watercolour. One member wrote that it was ‘very pretty & very well painted’, while another approved of the indistinct background.