The elegant engraving, made by F. Maillet in 1787, that declares itself to be a portrait of the famous Philip Miller of Chelsea Physic Garden, is actually a reversed copy of the self-portrait by John Miller. Born Johann Sebastian Muller and widely respected as a draughtsman, engraver, and naturalist, as he later styled himself, published this portrait facing one of Linnaeus in the elaborate frontispiece for his Illustration of the sexual system of the Genera plantarum of Linnaeus (Miller, 1777). Maillet's faithful line and stipple engraved copy, adorned with attractive embellishment and with the simple legend Miller, is only identified as relating to Philip by the text beneath: De la societe Royale de Londres/De l'Academie des Botanistes de florence/Et Directeur du Jardin de Botanique/ Des Apothicaires de Chelsea. Copies of this engraving can be found in the collections of the Hunt Institute, The Linnean Society of London, the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine, the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Hortus Botanicus Bergianus Stockholm, and even in the Chelsea Physic Garden. Several authorities report that this portrait was published as a frontispiece for the French translation of Philip Miller's Gardener's dictionary (1785), e.g. (Felton, 1830; Wittrock, 1905; Wall, Cameron and Underwood, 1963; Daniels and Stafleu, 1972). The Dictionnaire des jardiniers (Stafleu and Cowan, 1981: TL-2 #6051) was translated into French by Laurent-Marie de Chazelles (1724-1808) and appeared in 8 quarto volumes and it was in the final volume that Maillet's engraving was placed, or so the authorities claimed. However, upon searching for a copy of the engraving in situ we met with no immediate success. The Hunt Institute copy does not contain it. Stafleu and Cowan reported that it was present in copies at Missouri Botanical Garden and the New York Botanical Garden. New York's copy does contain the portrait (Lynas, 1982) but Missouri's (Reed, 1982) does not. Thus, entry #6051 (Stafleu and Cowan, 1981) needs amending accordingly. No portrait of Philip other than Maillet's erroneous engraving, is reported in the literature on portraiture that we have examined (Bossert, 1972; Burgess, 1973; Desmond, 1977; Driver, 1952; Milner, 1906; Wittrock, 1905). The wide acceptance of this false portrait, even by such an authoritative work as Wall, Cameron and Underwood's History of the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries of London, 1963, is remarkable. However, the error has been recognised by at least one historian. The copy of Maillet's portrait contained in a grangerized copy of H. Field's Memoirs historical and illustrative of the botanick garden at Chelsea, London, 1820, kept in the Chelsea Physic Garden library, has been annotated with a note of its true identity (Howard, 1982). But we surmise that the error must have been noted at the time of publication though that date is not entirely clear. Volume 8 of the Dictionnaire has a title page dated 1785 in the Hunt Institute copy and TL-2 #6051 does not query this dating. However, the portrait is signed C. F. Maillet, fecit 1787. In any event, John Miller was still alive in 1787 and if the portrait had been brought to his notice, he would surely have remonstrated with the translator for publishing his self-portrait under its false guise. As Wall, Cameron and Underwood noted, and as we have also
Search from 250 M+ research papersSearch from 250 M+ research papers
Dec 9, 1983
Lincoln Constance 
