(1769 - 1819)
Natural history painter Sydenham Teast Edwards was born in Monmouthshire, south east Wales; the son of a Welsh schoolmaster. He studied botanical painting under William Curtis and supplied illustrations to Curtis’s two publications: ‘Botanical Magazine’ and ‘Flora Londinensis’. However, after a falling out with Curtis, he began his own magazine, the ‘Botanical Register’. Edwards published ‘Cynographia Britannica’ in 1800 and ‘The New British Flora’ in 1812. He also illustrated R. W. Dickinson’s ‘Complete Dictionary of Practical Gardening’ and made drawings for ‘Sportsman’s Magazine’. Edwards lived at addresses in Lambeth, south London, Brompton and Chelsea. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1792 to 1813. He died in Chelsea in 1819.
