Sarah Anne Drake (1803-1857)

Little was known about Sarah Ann Drake, or Miss Drake, as she signed her work, until recent scholarship brought to light a few details of her life and career. As a young woman she became a close family friend of the British botanist, John Lindley and lived in the Lindley household, probably at first as a governess. Under his supervision she developed into an accomplished artist with a particular skill in depicting orchids. When Lindley found that his other responsibilities consumed his time, he turned to Drake to illustrate his publications. She drew from living plants and sketches made in the field that had been sent to him from such places as Brazil, British Guinea, Australia and China. 
Along with Augusta Innes Withers, she supplied illustrations for the largest, botanical book with lithographic plates ever produced, James Bateman’s Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala.