Collection Highlights: Western Art

The relaxed informality of the pose, with Tradescant leaning on his spade and dressed in an open-necked shirt and coat, may result from his relationship by marriage to the De Critz family. Having followed his father in the profession of gardener, Tradescant the Younger inherited his father's position at Oatlands as well as the property and museum at Lambeth, which he, in his own words in the catalogue published in 1656, ‘with continued diligence…augmented and hitherto preserved altogether'. Later he made over the museum by deed of gift to Elias Ashmole, who in turn presented it to the University of Oxford. [WA1898.10]

Lower Ground Floor, Room 8, Ark to Ashmolean.