CHARLES EMPSON (BRITISH, 1794-1861) Tilandia Lingulata (Scarlet Star)

CHARLES EMPSON (BRITISH, 1794-1861)
Tilandia Lingulata (Scarlet Star)
Watercolor and graphite with
touches of gum Arabic on paper
[Birmingham: 1830s]
Paper size: 15 ½ x 10 ¼ in.

CHARLES EMPSON (BRITISH, 1794–1861)

Charles Empson, a print and watercolor dealer based in Bath, England, undertook a demanding three-year journey through the northern regions of South America—primarily present-day Colombia—from 1824 to 1827. His original drawings of exotic South American plants, first encountered during this expedition, reflect the technical mastery of an accomplished artist best known through the published narratives of his travels.

Empson’s route led him from Cienega on the northern Colombian coast, through the central and eastern cordilleras of the Andes to Honda via the Magdalena River, and eventually eastward into Venezuela. His travels, marked by hardship and wonder, were later documented in Narratives of South America, published in London in 1836. He wrote:

“The glorious descriptions of Humboldt had induced many persons who had no other motive beyond that of beholding Nature in all her majesty, to explore these regions so gorgeously clothed in primeval vegetation, and so abundant in every production interesting to mankind... A field so rich, and so extensive, proved an irresistible temptation to the scientific man; the produce and commercial demands of so vast a continent were not less attractive to the merchant, while scenes of grandeur and beauty offered the most fascinating allurements to the imagination of the enthusiast.” (Preface)

Empson was not alone in this endeavor. He was accompanied by his friend Robert Stephenson, son of the famed railway engineer. Together, they endured numerous challenges, collecting significant examples of pre-Columbian art—some in gold—which Empson later exhibited in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Tragically, a portion of their collection was lost in a shipwreck near the entrance to New York Harbor. Today, only three known portfolios of Empson’s South America-inspired artwork survive.