John Tradescant the Elder: Difference between revisions
Importing Wikidata short description: "English botanist (1570–1638)" |
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{{Short description|English botanist (1570–1638)}} |
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[[File:John Tradescant the elder.jpg|right|thumb|250px|John Tradescant the Elder (portrait attributed to [[Cornelis de Neve]])]] |
[[File:John Tradescant the elder.jpg|right|thumb|250px|John Tradescant the Elder (portrait attributed to [[Cornelis de Neve]])]] |
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'''John Tradescant''' the Elder ({{IPAc-en|pron|t|r|ə|ˈ|d|ɛ|s|k|ə|n|t|}}; c. 1570s – 15–16 April 1638), father of [[John Tradescant the Younger]], was an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller. On 18 June 1607 he married Elizabeth Day of [[Meopham]] in Kent, England. She had been baptised on 22 August 1586 and was the daughter of Jeames Day, also of Meopham. |
'''John Tradescant''' the Elder ({{IPAc-en|pron|t|r|ə|ˈ|d|ɛ|s|k|ə|n|t|}}; c. 1570s – 15–16 April 1638), father of [[John Tradescant the Younger]], was an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller. On 18 June 1607 he married Elizabeth Day of [[Meopham]] in Kent, England. She had been baptised on 22 August 1586 and was the daughter of Jeames Day, also of Meopham. |
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[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - John Tradescant the elder.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Engraving of John Tradescant the Elder by [[Wenceslas Hollar]]]] |
[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - John Tradescant the elder.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Engraving of John Tradescant the Elder by [[Wenceslas Hollar]]]] |
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On all his trips he collected seeds and bulbs everywhere and assembled a collection of curiosities of natural history and ethnography which he housed in a large house, "The Ark", in Lambeth, London. The Ark was the prototypical "[[Cabinet of curiosities|Cabinet of Curiosity]]", a collection of rare and strange objects, that became the first [[museum]] open to the public in England, the [[Musaeum Tradescantianum]]. He also gathered specimens through American colonists, including his personal friend [[John Smith of Jamestown|John Smith]], who bequeathed Tradescant a quarter of his library. From their [[botanical garden]] in [[Lambeth]], on the south bank of the [[River Thames|Thames]], he and his son, [[John Tradescant the younger|John]], introduced many plants into English gardens that have become part of the modern gardener's repertory. |
On all his trips he collected seeds and bulbs everywhere and assembled a collection of curiosities of natural history and ethnography which he housed in a large house, "The Ark", in Lambeth, London. The Ark was the prototypical "[[Cabinet of curiosities|Cabinet of Curiosity]]", a collection of rare and strange objects, that became the first [[museum]] open to the public in England, the [[Musaeum Tradescantianum]]. He also gathered specimens through American colonists, including his personal friend [[John Smith of Jamestown|John Smith]], who bequeathed Tradescant a quarter of his library. From their [[botanical garden]] in [[Lambeth]], on the south bank of the [[River Thames|Thames]], he and his son, [[John Tradescant the younger|John]], introduced many plants into English gardens that have become part of the modern gardener's repertory. |
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He was buried in the churchyard of St-Mary-at-Lambeth, as was his son. The churchyard is now established as the [[Garden Museum]]. |
He was buried in the churchyard of St-Mary-at-Lambeth, as was his son. The churchyard is now established as the [[Garden Museum]]. |
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Revision as of 16:41, 3 February 2023
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2017) |
John Tradescant the Elder ( /trəˈdɛskənt/; c. 1570s – 15–16 April 1638), father of John Tradescant the Younger, was an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller. On 18 June 1607 he married Elizabeth Day of Meopham in Kent, England. She had been baptised on 22 August 1586 and was the daughter of Jeames Day, also of Meopham.
Life
John Tradescant was probably born in Suffolk. He began his career as head gardener to Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury at Hatfield House, who initiated Tradescant in travelling by sending him to the Low Countries for fruit trees in 1610/11. He was kept on by Robert's son William, to produce gardens at the family's London house, Salisbury House. He then designed gardens on the site of St Augustine's Abbey for Edward Lord Wotton in 1615––23.
Later, Tradescant was gardener to the royal favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, remodelling his gardens at New Hall, Essex and at Burley-on-the-Hill. John Tradescant travelled to the Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery in Arctic Russia in 1618 (his own account of the expedition survives in his collection), to the Levant and to Algiers during an expedition against the Barbary pirates in 1620, returned to the Low Countries on Buckingham's behalf in 1624, and finally went to Paris and (as an engineer for the ill-fated siege of La Rochelle) the Île de Ré with Buckingham. After Buckingham's assassination in 1628, he was then engaged in 1630 by King Charles I to be Keeper of his Majesty's Gardens, Vines, and Silkworms at his queen's minor palace, Oatlands Palace in Surrey.
On all his trips he collected seeds and bulbs everywhere and assembled a collection of curiosities of natural history and ethnography which he housed in a large house, "The Ark", in Lambeth, London. The Ark was the prototypical "Cabinet of Curiosity", a collection of rare and strange objects, that became the first museum open to the public in England, the Musaeum Tradescantianum. He also gathered specimens through American colonists, including his personal friend John Smith, who bequeathed Tradescant a quarter of his library. From their botanical garden in Lambeth, on the south bank of the Thames, he and his son, John, introduced many plants into English gardens that have become part of the modern gardener's repertory.
He was buried in the churchyard of St-Mary-at-Lambeth, as was his son. The churchyard is now established as the Garden Museum.
Legacy
The Tradescant collection, which was added to significantly by Tradescant's son, John Tradescant the Younger, was later given to the University of Oxford by Elias Ashmole. It was combined with an older University collection to become the Ashmolean Museum, which opened in 1683.[1][2]
A genus of flowering plants (Tradescantia) is named in his honour.
Tradescant Road, off South Lambeth Road in Vauxhall, marks the former boundary of the Tradescant estate.
Popular culture
Tradescant is the subject of the novel Earthly Joys by Philippa Gregory.
See also
- Edward Lhuyd – curator of the Ashmolean Museum
References
Citations
- ^ "Ashmolean Museum Website – The History of the Ashmolean". Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ "Ashmole dot com website – Biography of Elias Ashmole". Retrieved 7 January 2019.
Sources
- Leith-Ross, Prudence (1984). The John Tradescants: Gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen. ISBN 0-720-60612-8.
- MacGregor, Arthur, ed. (1983). Tradescant's Rarities: Essays on the Foundation of the Ashmolean Museum. ISBN 0-198-13405-3.
- Allan, Mea (1964). The Tradescants. Their Plants, Gardens and Museum 1570–1662. London.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Potter, Jennifer (2006). Strange Blooms: The Curious Lives and Adventures of the John Tradescants. ISBN 1-843-54334-6.
External links
- Tradescant Collection at the Ashmolean Museum
- Vauxhall Society
- Botany
- A Chilham garden designed by him
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- 1570s births
- 1638 deaths
- 17th-century English botanists
- 16th-century English botanists
- English gardeners
- People educated at The King's School, Canterbury
- People from Kent
- History of museums
- History of the London Borough of Lambeth
- People from Hertfordshire
- 16th-century gardeners
- 17th-century gardeners
- 17th-century English naturalists
- People associated with the Ashmolean Museum
- 16th-century English naturalists
- Burials at St Mary-at-Lambeth