Art from the USDA

Treasures of the National Agricultural Library:
Select offerings of 300dpi images from the magazine archives, USDA

Pomological Watercolors: A Wealth of Beauty and Detail
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, USDA hired about 50 illustrators to produce watercolors of new varieties of fruits and nuts. The result was a collection of thousands of beautiful and precise renderings that serve as accurate records of the fruits of that era. One of those prolific artists, Amanda A. Newton, was the granddaughter of Isaac Newton, the nation's first Commissioner of Agriculture.


Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Hand-painted watercolors of some of the world's most beautiful and interesting flowers grace the pages of a historic British gardening journal called Curtis's Botanical Magazine.


The site offers high resolution images of the illustrations. Clicking on the image you want will take you to another page with a "Download high resolution" link. A question form will appear. It's optional; just click Download.

More collections from The National Agricultural Library are not high resolution.