![Botanical drawing by Alice Jacob](/sites/default/files/styles/content_hero/public/alice-jacob-angraecum-national-botanic-gardens.jpg?itok=3zTRtqiK&cache-buster=d330ed0832&coords_hash=733f8baf9f)
Alice Jacob (1862-1921)
Angraecum arnoldianum, 1914
Watercolour heightened with white and pencil on paper
Courtesy of National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin
Alice Jacob was a lace designer, botanical illustrator, and art teacher. Her knowledge of plants inspired her textile designs. She was artist-in-resident at the National Botanic Gardens from 1908 to 1919, and made over 150 portraits of orchids including this example from western Africa. Jacob often included dissections and enlargements on a single sheet. She was involved in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement and annotated her plant studies in Celtic script.