About the artist
William Kilburn (1745-1818), a Dublin native, excelled as a botanical artist, engraver, and calico designer and printer. His career began in a Lucan calico-printing factory as an apprentice before he relocated to London, working for naturalist William Curtis. He later bought a calico-printing factory, and despite successful copyright petitions to Parliament, unauthrosed copies of his designs by competitors remained a challenge. Kilburn's created innovative designs, featuring detailed botanical elements like flowers, foliage, algae and seaweeds.
