Albany 2026: British Museum brings botanical art pioneer Mary Delany’s floral world to Princess Royal Fortress

Albany residents are being invited to take a look into the botanical world of English artist Mary Delany, with the British Museum’s travelling exhibition landing in Albany for the city’s bicentenary.

Mary Delany’s art is older than the European settlement of Albany, with the first of them produced in 1772, but the extraordinary botanical mosaics that inspired the modern art form of collages have stood the test of time.

Photographs of a selection of her works will hang in the Married Quarters at the Princess Royal Fortress from August 1, part of a travelling exhibition from the British Museum.

Delany’s artistic journey did not start until she was 72 years old, proving that being a late bloomer is no indication of a lack of talent.

Her works use coloured paper to imitate flowers so accurately that many throughout history have mistaken the pieces of art for watercolour paintings or even pressed flowers.

Each piece comprises tiny, expertly-cut pieces of coloured paper stuck to a solid black background, creating layered depictions of flowers and plants she saw that sometimes used as many as 200 paper petals per flower.

The artworks are also meticulously labelled, with each including the scientific botanical and the common name for the plant, as well as the date and place they were made.

Once Delany’s works caught the attention of friends in high English society, people began to send her different flowers from their own gardens to imitate on paper.

Famed botanist of the time Sir Joseph Banks was also a keen admirer, sending Delany flowers from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew for her to work from, and visiting to see her intriguing works firsthand.

Failing eyesight eventually forced Delany to hang up her scissors in 1783, after 10 years of dedication to her unique art form.

She died in April of 1788, leaving behind a collection of 985 collages along with embroideries, letters and drawings that are still admired around the world today.

In 1897, Delany’s great-niece Augusta Hall donated her relative’s collection to the British Museum, by then organised into albums and named Flora Delanica. The collection has since been exhibited around the world, making star appearances to coincide with special events like Albany’s bicentenary.

Because the centuries-old artworks are so fragile, the museum now mainly exhibits them as photographed copies instead of the original works, allowing art and flower enthusiasts around the world to get a glimpse into Delany’s life and artistic process.

Princess Royal Fortress Military Museum curator David Theodore said the exhibition offered a fascinating insight into a late bloomer who bridged art and science in a time when women were not given many opportunities to examine the science behind the world around them.

“Mary Delany’s story is extraordinary because it reminds us that innovation and creativity have no age limit,” he said.

“At a time when women had limited opportunities to pursue scientific study, Delany developed a unique artistic technique that produced botanically accurate representations of plants that continue to impress both artists and scientists today.”

The exhibition will be open at the Married Quarters at the Princess Royal Fortress on Mt Clarence from August 1 until October 24.