| AdminHistory | Dorothy Fernando (1907-1981) was born as Dorothy Dias at Panadura, Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in 1907. Her father, C.E.A. Dias was a well known planter with extensive possessions of tea and rubber lands. Dorothy was educated at Bishop’s College in Colombo and Malvern Girls’ School in the UK. She grew up in Colombo and spent much time on the family rubber and coconut estates as well as holiday homes at Hatton and later Nuwara Eliya, developing a great love for the countryside and its people, plants and animals. She pursued her interests in painting and nature, rather than developing a career. She married Cyril Fernando, who became one of Sri Lanka’s prominent physicians. They had four children together. Her technique in watercolour paintings of flowers developed slowly while illustrating articles on the indigenous orchid flora for her brother-in-law Ernest Soysa during the 1940s. In the late 1940s, she was able to travel independently and collected and painted wildflowers, culminating in the book 'Wildflowers of Ceylon' published in 1954. This book was written by her and illustrated with water colour paintings of wildflowers she had collected. She died in 1981. |
| Description | Twenty one mounted water colour drawings of Ceylon [Sri Lanka] plants by Dorothy Fernando, prepared for the artist's book 'Wild Flowers of Ceylon', Mitcham, West 1954. Also includes a letter, dated 5 August 1955, from W.G. West (of West Brothers) stating that Fernando wishes to present her book to the Linnean Society, along with the original paintings for the archive. |