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00:00This place has some of the richest diversity of wildlife.
00:07They're all manner of monkeys and lizards and snakes.
00:12But if you'd come here, say 150 years ago,
00:17when this was still one of the most remote places on earth,
00:21it's just a possibility that you might have followed one of the winding forest paths.
00:30And it happened suddenly upon a middle-aged English woman standing, painting furiously.
00:43The woman's name is Marianne North, a Victorian rebel in petticoats.
00:49She hunted the world to paint undiscovered plants,
00:53armed with nothing more than a brush and an iron will.
00:57Here I go, Miss North.
00:59I'm actress Amelia Fox, and I've come to Borneo,
01:02following in the footsteps of this intrepid explorer,
01:05whose maverick nature has always inspired me.
01:08Marianne North stepped into the realm of the man.
01:12She broke all manner of rules, travelling the globe alone for 15 years.
01:17Everywhere she went, she drew.
01:20Creating over a thousand paintings.
01:23There is a vibrancy and a sense of feeling and emotion.
01:27Makes me want to cry.
01:29This is the story of a fearless pioneer.
01:33She was consumed by this passion to paint plants.
01:36Whose vision impressed the most revolutionary scientists of all time.
01:41Darwin had great respect for her.
01:43She did bring to life his theory.
01:46Incredible.
01:47To run away into the wild with plants.
01:51That makes Marianne North an extraordinary painter.
01:54You wouldn't believe that I'm in one of the most densely populated cities in the world.
02:11But this is a 300 acre oasis of calm in southwest London.
02:17This is Kew Gardens.
02:23For over 250 years, these magnificent gardens have led the world in botanical research.
02:30Under Queen Victoria, it became the scientific powerhouse of the British Empire.
02:38It's here at Kew where it all began.
02:41Where a feisty woman, Marianne North, was inspired to collect and paint the most remarkable plants,
02:48travel to the far corners of the world, and bend the rules of tradition.
02:53For me, Marianne North is a visionary.
03:00A hidden treasure whose life and work merit exploration.
03:04At a time when women occupied the drawing room,
03:07this Victorian trailblazer openly shuns domestic stereotypes.
03:12She travels across five continents, discovers unknown species,
03:16and brings the natural world alive in the most mesmerizing way.
03:20I've grown up taking my rights as a woman for granted.
03:24I vote, I work, I have choices.
03:27Marianne lives at a time when the very idea of educated women is ridiculed.
03:32The Royal Society of Science didn't admit the first female fellow until 1945,
03:38almost three decades after women won the vote in 1918.
03:43It's a testament to her strength that Marianne defies those boundaries.
03:48Marianne is certainly extraordinary in many ways.
03:53I think her outlook on life is quite unusual.
03:56She undoubtedly lives a life less ordinary and seeks out thrilling and adventurous experiences.
04:06Marianne's adventurous spirit and curious mind is evident from a young age.
04:11Born in Hastings in 1830, her father, Frederick North, a well-connected and wealthy landowner,
04:19encourages her passion for the natural world and Kew Gardens.
04:24It's like a natural playground where London society, botanists and scientists came to enjoy and learn about the extraordinary life of plants.
04:39It can also lay claim to being one of the most biodiverse places on earth.
04:49For me, Kew Gardens is a wondrous canopy of ever-changing earthly beauty.
04:54And it's incredible to think that it was just as wondrous in Victorian times for the intrepid Marianne North.
05:01It's on a visit in 1856 when Marianne was 26 that Frederick North brings his daughter here to the Palm House.
05:16For Marianne, it's like walking into a fantastical alien world.
05:27This is one of the wonders of the Victorian age.
05:32Half an acre of iron and glass.
05:37The Palm House opens in 1848 and is the brainchild of Sir William Hooker,
05:48Kew's first official director and friend of Frederick North.
05:52This symbol of the British Empire literally brings the tropics to the heart of Victorian Britain
05:58and to the awestruck Marianne North.
06:02I'm surrounded by extremely spiky plants.
06:07But this is the Eastern Cape giant cycad.
06:12At over 200 years old, it could be the world's oldest pot plant.
06:17So when Marianne North came here in 1856 with her father,
06:21this cycad had been on display at Kew for 80 years.
06:25No wonder it needs to be propped up in its old age.
06:29It's an absolutely extraordinary plant.
06:38But there is another plant here that is even more thrilling for the young Marianne.
06:44Sir William Hooker gave me a hanging bunch of the Amherstia nobilis,
07:00one of the grandest flowers in existence.
07:03It was the first that had bloomed in England and it made me long to see the tropics.
07:09This fantastical flower completely captures her imagination.
07:14It ignites a spark that would, over the next 30 years,
07:18drive her to conquer the globe and create over a thousand paintings.
07:24Now, if you can imagine for the past five years, Marianne has thrived as a watercolor artist,
07:30constantly painting flowers, landscapes and every aspect of the natural world.
07:40In fact, ever since 1855, her father complains of her making a most exclusive business of painting.
07:49And coming here was like adding fire to her passion.
07:53Her paintings are very much infused with her identity and her feelings and her emotions.
08:03She didn't have the botanical training that a professional botanical artist would have had.
08:11So Marianne is very much breaking the rules because she doesn't really conform to anything that's going on at the time.
08:17She wanted to have control over what appeared on her canvas.
08:27Marianne has such a pioneering spirit, the passion with which she paints.
08:32I'm curious to know where that came from.
08:34So I've come to Ruffham Hall in Norfolk where she spent her summers
08:38and where her great-great-nephew Tom North still lives with his wife Sally and sister Christine.
08:45Hello.
08:46Hello, Tom.
08:47How nice to meet you.
08:48Lovely to meet you.
08:49Welcome to our little house.
08:51Thank you so much.
08:52Come in.
08:54Hiya.
08:55I'm Christine.
08:56Hello, Amelia.
08:57And Sally.
08:58Hi, Sally.
08:59It's lovely to be able to come here and meet you.
09:01And now to find out, I hope, a little bit more about Marianne as a person.
09:04She spent so much time here.
09:05So where should we begin?
09:10Empty.
09:11Lovely.
09:12Thank you so much.
09:14It's a breathtaking one when you walk in.
09:17You can feel the family atmosphere here straight away just with all the pictures, the colours, the fire.
09:27Aunt Pop's kept these wonderful diaries and inside she's collected every different type of grass
09:34that was growing in Norfolk.
09:36Really?
09:37How lovely.
09:41Marianne, known as Aunt Pop, is one of three children.
09:45Her father's a Member of Parliament for Hastings and she enjoys a privileged upbringing.
09:50He must have been an extraordinary man, I think, a great charm.
09:54They were very, very close.
09:56It was him that gave her the nickname Pop.
09:59We always thought as children that it was because she was always popping off to foreign parts.
10:03Ah.
10:04But when she was a very little girl, she was always his favourite child.
10:08Both of them loved the countryside.
10:12They used to ride around the garden and they also studied the plants.
10:19They just enjoyed a simple country life.
10:23So these are Marianne's pictures?
10:25Those are her own pictures, yes.
10:27I think that she must have painted those when she was quite young,
10:30because they looked to me like watercolours.
10:34And there's her father sitting in the garden reading.
10:38Yes, there he is.
10:39Yeah, there he is reading on the bayonet.
10:42And they spent a lot of time in their garden at Hastings.
10:48They're amazing gardens from these pictures.
10:51Her father built three greenhouses in the gardens with different temperatures in each house, rather like a cube.
11:00They worked in the greenhouses pretty well every day.
11:03And so do you think he taught Marianne about plants?
11:07I think he was, I would think he was pretty knowledgeable as well.
11:13But I think she sort of overtook him, as it were.
11:16She was always mad about plants and she used to wash the plants and tend the sick ones.
11:23Her mind seems to have been slightly different to the average Victorian lady.
11:28To do something so spirited, to go off on these travels, makes her slightly unique for the time.
11:37I think she was a very independent spirit.
11:40I know her father sometimes used to get worn out by her.
11:43She was so energetic.
11:49But Marianne was definitely number one in his life, I think.
11:54She was the absolute apple of his eye.
11:58My first recollections relate to my father.
12:02He was, from first to last, the one idol and friend of my life.
12:06And apart from him, I had little pleasure and no secrets.
12:10Away from the quiet summers in Ruffham Hall, the North family also lead a very sociable and bohemian lifestyle.
12:20Their Hastings home is a revolving door to musicians and famous artists.
12:25William Henry Hunt and Edward Lear are regular visitors.
12:29At an early age, Marianne is exposed to untraditional influences and feels confident in being different.
12:36Someone told my mother that I was very uneducated, which was perfectly true, so I was sent to school.
12:46School life was hateful to me.
12:49Marianne's school life is short-lived and she's left to her own devices.
12:53But she turns out to be well-read, very knowledgeable and almost entirely self-taught.
13:00The Norths were an intellectual family and that gave our heart confidence to do her own thing.
13:09She had a particular way of coding, almost, where she would sign each painting.
13:19And you can see here, it's hidden away.
13:22Yes, look!
13:24That's fantastic!
13:26That says so much about her character, doesn't it?
13:28Yes, it does.
13:29So is that the same with all her paintings? You have to search for her signature?
13:33You have to search, indeed you do.
13:36I won't tell you where it is.
13:39There it is.
13:43There it is.
13:45It's like being a child.
13:48Find it, it is, yes.
13:50It's so clever, I love it.
13:52Marianne rather relished being quite different and sometimes perhaps even played up to it.
13:59It would have been expected for most women to simply get married, have children and stay within the domestic environment.
14:07Whereas she, from quite an early age, was striving to be different.
14:18Marianne grows up here in Hastings, where that freedom to be different, to follow her ambition, is nurtured by both her father and her mother Janet.
14:27Frederick North and his family clearly enjoyed travelling and seeing how people lived on the continent and elsewhere.
14:37I think they were quite a close-knit family and weren't totally bound by every strict Victorian convention.
14:52Marianne's mother dies when Marianne's 25.
14:55It doesn't merit much of a mention in her autobiography, except to say that her last few weeks had been dreary.
15:02But it's an important moment, because Frederick North never remarries, and Marianne makes a promise never to leave his side.
15:16The two remain constant companions, travelling extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East.
15:22Marianne captures their expeditions in exquisite watercolour drawings, but 1868 marks a creative turning point.
15:35Australian artist Robert Dowling gives her her first lesson in oil painting.
15:40She describes the experience as a vice-like dram drinking.
15:46From then on, Marianne was addicted.
15:57Marianne North's world suddenly collapses, when in October 1869, her father, Frederick North, dies.
16:05The last words in his mouth were, come and give me a kiss-pop.
16:15I am only going to sleep.
16:17He never woke again, and left me indeed alone.
16:22According to her own account, she goes into a kind of hibernation,
16:27and then emerges with this very British stiff upper lip response.
16:33I could not bear to talk of him or of anything else, and resolved to keep out of the way of all friends and relations.
16:44I left the house at Hastings forever.
16:49Marianne, nearly 40 years old and mistress of her own destiny, sets off on her travels.
16:54She possesses a large fortune, and can do absolutely as she pleases.
17:00Finally, her rage to see the tropics is fulfilled.
17:04Marianne's gateway to the globe begins in America.
17:08Her horizons are magnified.
17:10She's enchanted by grand, giant trees, and the breathtaking Niagara Falls.
17:15She visits a dozen countries in just six years, always on the move, always painting, and always a lone traveler.
17:25Unlike our click-easy vacations, traveling 150 years ago was difficult and dangerous.
17:35Marianne would have easily spent up to two years at sea, enduring cramped unsanitary conditions, violent storms, and severe sickness.
17:43It's seen as an unsuitable pursuit for the weaker sex, unless one has what were called letters of introduction.
17:53Marianne's letters of introduction were absolutely vital for her to gain the kind of experiences that she had.
18:01These letters operated like a 19th century social network that connected British upper classes around the empire.
18:09It ensured that she was introduced to a lot of intellectual ideas, scientific thought, challenging debates, many things that other women simply didn't encounter at that time.
18:22But it isn't the chance to rub shoulders with high society that really excites her.
18:29What she wants is to paint in the most far-flung places on Earth.
18:37I had long had the dream of going to some tropical country to paint its peculiar vegetation on the spot, in natural luxuriance.
18:46I followed Marianne to one of those tropical countries.
18:51This is Sarawak, North Borneo.
18:54She travels here to paint curious plants, including those strange, flesh-eating pitcher plants.
19:02The loveliest and most extraordinary productions in all Malaya.
19:061876 finds Marianne steaming in from Singapore to Keqing, the Malaysian part of Borneo.
19:16She arrived by boat, soaking in all this exotic difference.
19:22The glorious vegetation dazzled me with its magnificence.
19:27What was I to paint first?
19:28North Borneo was a bizarre outpost like no other.
19:38In the 19th century, explorer James Brooke helped crush a rebellion against the Sultan of Brunei.
19:45He was given Sarawak and the title of White Raja.
19:48By the time Marianne North comes here, with the inevitable letter of introduction, the second White Raja, nephew Charles Brooke, was firmly in charge.
20:00He rules with a staff of 20 English officers, 100 soldiers and a wife titled the Rani, who he imported from England to produce an heir.
20:09The Astana, meaning palace, was the official residence of the Raja and Rani.
20:17It was Marianne's first stop in Keqing, and where I am meeting historian John Walker to talk about her intriguing visit.
20:26When Marianne arrived, the Raja was away, so the Rani was by herself.
20:30And she really welcomes Marianne.
20:31Yes.
20:32And so when she arrived, there was quite an interesting introduction, wasn't there?
20:35And the Rani said something about Marianne's appearance.
20:38She was not flattering.
20:39No, she wasn't.
20:40She had a big nose and thin lips.
20:43But on the other hand, Marianne described her as being beautiful.
20:46The Rani had many admiral qualities, but nobody else described her as beautiful.
20:50We learn a lot about Marianne in the Rani's autobiography.
20:58The account of her globetrotting guest is playfully revealing.
21:02The Rani clearly enjoyed her being here, but she was trying.
21:07There was a restlessness to her.
21:11After luncheon, Miss North was hurtlingly energetic.
21:15With the thermometer at 80 degrees in the shade, I was longing for my siesta.
21:18What? said my friend.
21:21I'd never heard of such a thing.
21:24Marianne is clearly strong-willed and enthusiastic to the point of obsession.
21:31Do you think there was something more to her need to travel to such far-flung places?
21:37Amelia, it wasn't an interest, it was a passion.
21:38Yes.
21:39It was an absolute passion.
21:40She was driven.
21:41Yes.
21:42And we have to remember that she actually was a botanist.
21:44We think it was as an artist because she painted.
21:46But in the absence of colour photography, those paintings are a vital contribution to science.
21:50Mm-hmm.
21:51And it was a male-dominated world.
21:53Yes.
21:54She wanted to be taken seriously by Hooker, who was the director of Kew Gardens.
21:58Yes.
21:59And he did take her seriously.
22:00And this is an extraordinary achievement for a 1930 woman.
22:06Marianne was different because she wasn't just travelling for the point of travelling.
22:09Mm-hmm.
22:10She was consumed by this passion.
22:11Yes.
22:12To paint plants.
22:13Yes.
22:14She didn't seem bothered by the heat or the dangers in her quest for finding them.
22:17She was very practical about it.
22:18So that Riley was shocked.
22:19She comments she has short petticoats, but she always sits her up.
22:22Yeah, that's right.
22:23And then she's in the boat and she says that she sat there with her knees on every door.
22:28It's just a fantastic image, isn't it?
22:31Once Marianne finishes shocking and charming her hostess, she sets her mind on one purpose,
22:38finding those peculiar picture plants.
22:41She was like a child in her excitement.
22:43The very day she arrives, she scolds the Riley.
22:46I want to go and see some picture plants.
22:48The Wynies never heard of them.
22:49Right.
22:50So they have to ask one of the house boys, and he knows where they are in the forest.
22:53So she grabs the Riley, they jump in a little canoe, row up the river and down a creek,
22:58clamber through the mud, and they find a collection of picture plants.
23:03And she's delighted.
23:04Yes.
23:05So the next day the Riley said, what do you want her to do?
23:07She said, do.
23:08I'm going to paint while they're fresh.
23:10She spent the entire day painting them.
23:15And from that moment, I did very truly love Miss North.
23:20She was an artist.
23:22She felt the beauty of our surroundings.
23:25She loved flowers and all beautiful things.
23:34Marian North's works have a pulsating liveliness that is drawn, I think,
23:40through her use of oil painting.
23:43Botanical drawings would usually be in pencil or watercolor.
23:48By using oils and refusing to follow traditional codes of scientific illustration, Marianne blurs the lines between science and art.
23:59The thing about North's use of oils is that it is totally natural.
24:03She just takes the color, places it onto the paper, and mixes it, which is quite unusual.
24:09And given some of the detail that she accomplishes, it's quite extraordinary.
24:14But what's extraordinary to Marianne isn't just the excitement of painting.
24:20It's her botanical curiosity and the hunt of the plant itself.
24:24Here I go, Miss North.
24:26And now I want to have a taste of that adventure.
24:29To see what excited Marianne to find those bizarre carnivorous plants.
24:35I'm heading into the depths of a forest, south of Keqing.
24:52There, Mr Yeo, a local wildlife expert, I hope will make my day picture perfect.
25:00We are coming to this habitat for the picture plant.
25:04The picture plant, they come in different kinds of shapes.
25:08Some are big and brown.
25:10Some are tins and long.
25:14Some are green in colors.
25:17Some are purple color.
25:19Some are red in color.
25:21And some are spotted.
25:23So that must have been why Marianne wanted to come to Borneo.
25:26Uh-huh, yes.
25:30Ah, a sheer cliff face.
25:34There are 30 to 40 species of picture plants in Borneo, around 20 in Sarawak alone.
25:40It's no wonder Marianne came here, battling challenging terrains to catch a glimpse.
25:46Are you all right?
25:47I'm all right, thank you.
25:54Are you all right?
25:55Do you think Marianne climbed cliffs like this?
25:57So the way you find the picture plant is you have to look on the ground or you have to look on the plants.
26:14Uh-huh.
26:15So it's like an Easter egg hunt but with picture plants.
26:18Come on.
26:19Come on.
26:20Oh my goodness.
26:21Yes, yes.
26:22This is one of the species, yeah.
26:23I found one.
26:24Yes, congratulations.
26:25And you have good eyes.
26:26Wow, they're extraordinary.
26:27Yes, yes.
26:28I've never seen anything like them.
26:29They're well named as picture plants, aren't they?
26:30Yep.
26:31The one growing up here is the upper picture of this plant.
26:32and there must be a lower picture on the ground.
26:47So if you look around then probably you will find one of it.
26:51I see one there.
26:52Where?
26:53Yes, yes.
26:54Okay, come.
26:55Come this way.
26:56See?
26:57Yeah.
26:58Wow.
26:59See?
27:00All right.
27:01That's huge.
27:02Okay.
27:03What would happen if you touched that?
27:06You might be bitten by the picture plant.
27:10Are you serious?
27:11What if you put your finger in there?
27:13No, no.
27:14It's harmless.
27:15Okay.
27:16Okay.
27:17Thankfully harmless for humans but not for unsuspecting insects.
27:22The way they lure the insects is they produce a nectar under the lip here.
27:28Okay.
27:29This is the laters for the ants or insects.
27:32Oh, I see it helps them get up there.
27:34Yes.
27:35So it's clever.
27:36It lures the ants.
27:37Yes.
27:38They climb up and then they fall in.
27:39So it's like a trap.
27:40Yeah.
27:41It's fascinating.
27:44I have never seen anything like that in my life.
27:49These are truly intricate plants.
27:52Trapping ants and other insects that slip down the side of the picture into a pool of
27:57digestive enzyme.
27:59It's sticky and sweet down there.
28:01And once the prey is in there, the body slowly dissolves.
28:06It's a truly predatory plant.
28:09Oh my goodness.
28:10Look at this one.
28:11It's huge.
28:12Look at it.
28:13It's so beautiful.
28:14The markings on the skin.
28:15That aubergine and green colour.
28:16Not only beautiful but it's an incredible mechanism.
28:30But I haven't yet seen the most impressive one of all, the Nepenthes Northiana named after
28:43her.
28:44To do that, I have to reach the limestone mountains where they grow and cross the dense Sarawak jungle.
28:51Marion North stepped into the realm of the man.
28:58I think she wanted to be taken seriously by her peers.
29:02She didn't want to be perceived as frivolous.
29:05She wanted to be perceived as a serious person.
29:07And part of that seriousness was to travel and do what it was that she did.
29:12And quite often in dangerous circumstances.
29:15But with all its dangers, the wild forest is still a botanical paradise.
29:30The banks of the river were a continual wonder all the way up.
29:37It almost took my breath away with its lovely fairy-like beauty.
29:43Entirely surrounded by virgin forests and grand mountains.
29:51I'm following in Marianne's footsteps, not only in search of pitcher plants, but of all the other amazing flora she found.
30:02I'd love to see one of the staghorn ferns that she painted.
30:08Marianne's capturing plants in the wild before they disappear.
30:16It's so dramatic, this scene, under the canopy of these enormously tall trees.
30:23These ones that hang over the river, they're almost Jurassic.
30:28They look like prehistoric animals.
30:31You can totally understand why Marianne loved painting them.
30:34Guiding me through this tangle of trees and vegetation is ranger, Ross Lee.
30:48It's super humid, isn't it?
30:50Oh, yes.
30:51Where are you taking me, Ross Lee?
30:53We're going through this hole.
30:55Just mind your head. I'm going down.
31:01I thought I was just coming to look at plants and gentle wildlife.
31:06We have to get through, anyway.
31:09Well, I'm going to stamp my feet then.
31:11It's not my favourite bit of Arctic.
31:13What?
31:14This is the place I saw a big python.
31:18No!
31:19Oh my goodness, let's get out of here.
31:24It was a long time ago.
31:26What happened?
31:28A python was on the tree.
31:30Yeah.
31:31And suddenly, a proboscis monkey just passing by and started to grab it.
31:36And it rose.
31:37And both of them fall down on the ground.
31:40In front of you.
31:41Yes.
31:42And it was so lucky then.
31:44But the python killed the monkey.
31:46But he didn't swallow it up.
31:48Because humans are around.
31:50They just move away.
31:51No.
31:52Yes.
31:53So the monkey just died like that.
31:55Oh.
31:56Oh.
31:57Oh.
31:58Oh.
31:59My new head.
32:00Better than you being taken by the python.
32:01Yes.
32:02Lee, hey?
32:03Yes.
32:04Look at this.
32:09I've always thought of mangroves as quite spooky.
32:17And they are.
32:19By all accounts, including her own, our fearless explorer relished being in the wild from dawn till dusk.
32:35The torment of high society was a penance.
32:39But through here, at least, was a perfect world of wonders.
32:51The noise here is amazing, isn't it?
32:53As well, hearing the insect life and the bird life, animal life.
32:58Mostly, if you see something shaking on the trees, you're like the monkey.
33:11There he is.
33:13Look at that.
33:14Oh.
33:16Can you see the big nose?
33:17Yeah.
33:18Yeah?
33:19Yeah.
33:20Big stomach?
33:21Yeah.
33:22That's extraordinary.
33:24There's nothing that quite prepares you for seeing an animal like this in the wild.
33:32He's a really unusual looking character.
33:37It's so exciting.
33:38It's incredible.
33:48So, just be careful.
33:50How on earth did Marion do this?
33:54It's hard to imagine how Marion coped with the terrain and the heat in her Victorian dress.
34:12With help, of course, but carrying all her personal belongings and her art equipment.
34:19And she was so anxious to examine the plants that she didn't want to be carried in case she missed out on seeing them.
34:30Mind your head.
34:31Thank you.
34:32Oh my goodness.
34:33Is that what I think it is?
34:34Yes.
34:35Is it a Quinum?
34:36Yes.
34:37Quinum Nordianum.
34:38Named after Marianne.
34:39Yes.
34:40It's so beautiful.
34:41And you can see it's flowering.
34:42And it is so exactly like what she paints.
34:43Marianne's depiction of this species and its natural surroundings is sent to Kew, where a botanist realizes it's unknown to Western science.
34:49It's officially named after her in 1882.
34:50Marianne North is painting in the wild.
34:52That is a hugely different process as an artist.
34:54She's not assessing the specimen as a scientific illustrator would.
34:55Rather, she is in there making a very emotional representation.
34:57I can see why she fell in love with this type of collection with a graphic.
35:04But the type of thing is a lot of fun, but the type of thing is available to the plants, if you know the magic, they are not ready to perform the magic.
35:15And you could see it's a lot of fun.
35:16You could see it's a lot of fun, right?
35:17But because the painting is very difficult and gorgeous, that's so beautiful.
35:20And it was great.
35:21But it was great.
35:22It was great.
35:23It was great.
35:24It was great.
35:25I can see why she fell in love with it here.
35:30But behind this enchanting natural beauty, Marianne faces many hidden dangers.
35:38This is an age of primitive medicine.
35:41Travel's a risk, tropical disease is rife, and Marianne isn't immune.
35:47I had a terrible attack of my old pain.
35:51I was too weak to think of starting on any expedition for some time.
35:58Over the course of her travels, she comes down with typhoid, influenza, rheumatic fever, not to mention broken bones.
36:07What she did was hard and treacherous.
36:12But she never gave up.
36:15And neither will I.
36:17I'm back on the hunt for that special pitcher plant, the elusive Nepenthes Northiana.
36:24It's rare, lives at high altitude, and finding it is not for the faint-hearted.
36:30Like Marianne, I have to travel 15 miles into the jungle, over broken bridges, through narrow caves, up Jurassic-like routes,
36:42to reach the only place where the Nepenthes Northiana might be found, the ancient limestone mountains of Tagora.
36:51When making her way through trackless terrain, Marianne North has only one rule.
37:00Not going willingly anywhere where I could not see my feet.
37:09But if I have any hope of seeing the Nepenthes Northiana, I have to follow my own rules.
37:15The only way is up.
37:17Okay.
37:18Yeah.
37:18You'll try.
37:19Good.
37:21Ready to climb.
37:26Okay.
37:26Okay.
37:28Okay.
37:29Okay.
37:47Let's see if there are any here.
38:05Come on.
38:07Where are you?
38:08I think that's them
38:36The elusive Nepenthes Northiana
38:40They're much redder than the picture plants I've already seen
38:45And they've got a much larger mouth
38:48They're so high up
38:53Out of reach but not out of sight
38:56I'm so excited
39:06Wow, what a view
39:13It's absolutely incredible and worth all the sweat and climbing
39:18To have caught a glimpse of this rare treasure in its natural habitat
39:23And it was special when Marianne found it because no one had ever seen it before
39:27But it's even more special for me
39:30Because the Nepenthes Northiana might not be around for much longer
39:33This particular species is now endangered
39:36Its habitat being destroyed by pesticides and quarrying
39:41A fact that Marianne recognized 150 years ago
39:46It broke one's heart to think of man the civilizer wasting treasures in a few years
39:56To which savages and animals had done no harm for centuries
40:00In spite of her discovery, there is no stopping Miss North
40:05She then travels across southern Asia
40:08Ending up in India for 15 months
40:11Where she painted over 200 pictures
40:14She finally returns to London in 1879
40:19What she finds is a very different scene
40:30To when she abandoned British shores 10 years ago
40:33Scientists, artists and London society
40:36Are now starting to take her seriously
40:39Marianne exhibits some of her work at the Conduit Street Gallery
40:45Many flocked to the event, proving to the world that she is a true botanical explorer
40:51As well as an artist
40:52I am so puffed up with praise bestowed on my Tenerife work
40:58I am weak enough to like flattery better than snubbing
41:01She was overwhelmed by the attention
41:07And soon an idea began to form in her mind
41:10Later that year, while waiting for a train at Shrewsbury Station
41:14She wrote to Sir Joseph Hooker
41:16Asking if he would accept her paintings as a gift to Kew
41:20It would be a great happiness to know my life had not been spent in vain
41:30That I can leave something behind
41:33Which will add to the pleasure of others
41:35Marianne refers to her first exhibition paintings
41:40As my children from Conduit Street
41:42After her father's death
41:45It is art, not relationships, that she yearns for
41:48In fact, she describes marriage as a terrible experiment
41:52Marianne was pursued by suitors
41:58But she never followed through
42:00She wasn't particularly serious about their affections towards her
42:05I have no love to give you or anyone
42:10It has all gone with him
42:12I have not the smallest intention of marrying you or anybody else
42:17But there is one man who would become Marianne's closest friend since her father
42:24In him, she finds a soulmate
42:26With the case of Dr. Burnell, North is very taken by him, I think
42:32She admires his intellect
42:35Dear Dr. Burnell, I am not the only one to whom it will be a joy to see you again
42:41There must be very many
42:43I think it was a deliberate choice not to marry
42:47Because it may well have stifled her project
42:51So you need not fear my designs on your freedom
42:55For Marianne, marriage meant a loss of freedom
43:04If she had have married, her finances would have become her husband's
43:09Inevitably, marriage would have also constrained her in terms of how she chose to live
43:15Since her father died, she didn't know what to do with herself other than paint
43:22She did carry that grief around with her
43:29And I don't think that she would have known how to really sit still
43:33It does make me think that it was her love for plant hunting and painting
43:40That left no room for anything else
43:42Her work is her life
43:45But her life's work extended far beyond just her paintings
43:55She wanted recognition
44:00To make an indelible impression on the scientific establishment
44:04And she did just that
44:06I'm back at Q to find out exactly how Marianne made her mark
44:19On the male-dominated world of natural science
44:21Q was and is the unrivaled authority on botanical research
44:28In the days before genetics, microscopy and high-res photography
44:33A carefully dried specimen would be sent here to the herbarium
44:38To be described and recorded
44:40So this looks like a very old specimen to me
44:43Yes, this is quite old
44:46This is a Nepophia
44:47Otherwise known as the Red Hot Poker
44:49Yes, commonly known as the Red Hot Poker
44:52It's actually Nepophia northii
44:55Named after the lady who collected it
44:58Marianne North
44:59And she did so in 1883
45:03When she made a painting of it
45:05I can actually show you what this looks like
45:07Which is in here
45:10When I can find the right page
45:12There we are
45:13So a little bit more recognisable perhaps
45:18There's a Red Hot Poker there
45:19Than this dried specimen here
45:22Which has obviously lost its colour
45:24It is very, very old
45:25It is very old and very precious
45:28The Red Hot Poker is only one of the four species
45:32Including a genus named after Marianne
45:34There's the Northia seychellana
45:36The beautiful Crinum northianum
45:39That I spotted in the jungle
45:40And of course
45:42The magnificent Nepenthes northiana
45:44I can't believe that
45:46She's seeing it here
45:47Is that quite unusual
45:50To have your name permanently attached to a plant?
45:54Yes it is
45:55I mean there are obviously lots of people
45:58Who have a plant named after them
46:00Right
46:00But generally speaking
46:01They were professionals
46:02Marianne wasn't a professional scientist herself
46:05And so yes
46:07It was really quite unusual
46:08Incredible
46:09Yes she was quite an incredible woman
46:11In many, many respects
46:12Yeah
46:13There's no doubt that Marianne's artistic vision
46:16Was drastically radical in its time
46:19Traditional scientific illustration
46:23Depicts a single plant on a white background
46:25Whereas Marianne places the plant in its natural habitat
46:29Surrounded by other plants and animals
46:32A vision that reflected a controversial
46:35And essentially Darwinian perspective
46:37And what was her relationship
46:40To Darwin and Darwin's theories?
46:43He'd known her since she was a child
46:45Because he was a friend of her father's
46:46So we know that he very much appreciated her artwork
46:50And I think that was because they did bring to life
46:54His theories
46:56And made them more understandable to the average person
47:00Marianne read Darwin's Origin of Species
47:04Published in 1859
47:05From then on
47:07She eagerly embraces his theory of evolution
47:10He was in my eyes
47:13The greatest man living
47:15The most truthful
47:18As well as the most selfless and modest
47:21Always trying to give others
47:24Rather than himself
47:25The credit of his own great thoughts and work
47:29In 1880
47:32Darwin bestowed her with the highest accolade
47:35I was much flattered at his wishing to see me
47:38And when he said he thought I ought not to attempt
47:41Any representation of the vegetation of the world
47:44Until I had seen and painted the Australian
47:46I determined to take it as a royal command
47:50And to go at once
47:51Marianne spends close to a year
47:55Travelling across Australia
47:57Tasmania
47:58And New Zealand
47:59She produces over 300 pictures
48:02Which she proudly shares with Darwin
48:04I am so glad that I have seen your Australian pictures
48:09I am often able to call up with considerable vividness
48:14Scenes which I have seen
48:16But my mind in this respect
48:19Must be a mere barren waste
48:21Compared with your mind
48:23I remain dear Miss North
48:25Yours truly obliged
48:28Charles Darwin
48:29What would you say Marianne's place in botanical history is
48:34She's left us a really quite important legacy
48:37I mean as well as the plants that she actually discovered
48:40She's one of the first people who's really taken
48:43These images of plants in their natural environment
48:46And used it to educate and inform at a more popular level
48:50These are to help the public understand the botanical world
48:54I think we find Marianne North's paintings so fascinating
49:01Because we see her abandoning herself to her instincts
49:05Following these Darwinian theories
49:08And mixing those together
49:09That's what we admire and can appreciate now
49:12Rather than seeing just a sort of rule-breaking eccentric
49:16Marianne North dedicated her life
49:23After preserving our most precious asset
49:25Nature
49:27Yet that dream came at a price
49:30The relentless travelling and persistent illnesses she suffered
49:34Claimed her life at the young age of 59
49:37And it's here at Kew
49:42The place she loved and respected most
49:45Where her greatest legacy lives
49:47The Marianne North Gallery
49:50Sir Joseph Hooker accepted her proposal
49:56And this humble building
49:58Built at her own expense
49:59Opened in 1882
50:01It houses the longest permanent solo exhibition
50:06By a female artist in the world
50:08This is spectacular
50:21This is spectacular
50:22This is the most beautiful
50:33I mean it's phenomenal
50:37And in a time before colour photography
50:48You can see how important
50:50These pictures are
50:52To record these environments
50:55These plants
50:56The animals
50:57There's the picture plant
51:02Picture plants
51:05That I saw in Borneo
51:08I mean there's such a vivid documentation
51:12It shows you how important it was
51:14That she learnt to paint with oil
51:17Because that has perfectly preserved the colours
51:20Mangostine
51:25Staghorn fern
51:27It's so exciting seeing them here
51:30Having actually been to Borneo
51:32I can't quite believe it
51:36The Marianne North Gallery
51:41Functions much like a moving image almost
51:44As one travels through
51:46And I think she was very aware of the visitor
51:48Moving their own body through her gallery
51:51And thereby travelling the world
51:53Taking in one place at a time
51:55And really being able to visit
51:58All of those places that she recorded
52:01This is an art gallery like no other
52:04All 832 of Marianne's paintings
52:08Fill each and every wall
52:09Floor to ceiling
52:11A permanent record of the five continents
52:14And the 17 countries she travelled to
52:17Someone who knows these snapshots of the world inside out
52:22Is former gallery curator Laura Giuffrida
52:26Lovely to meet you
52:27So this is Jamaica
52:30This is where she started her travels to the tropics
52:33So she spent five months here
52:35And of course you can imagine
52:37Longing to see the tropics
52:38She stepped off the boat
52:40And then was literally in ecstasy
52:42Marianne's passion for adventure never faded
52:46From Jamaica to Japan
52:49South Africa to the Seychelles
52:51She captured the world's plants
52:54Across to Chile
52:55And this is where Marianne made her last voyage
52:58She was very tired at this stage
53:00But she was determined
53:02Determined to find and paint the blue puya
53:05And she rode up the mountain
53:08She got off on foot
53:09And there they were
53:11A revealed stand of the blue puyas
53:13Breathtaking
53:16It was an idea of presenting nature
53:19Free to the public
53:21To come and view
53:22Nobody really accomplished that
53:24And so she does something quite extraordinary
53:27In that she presents
53:28What the men couldn't
53:31It really is the world in one room
53:34It is, exactly
53:35She's captured it
53:36And that's quite a legacy
53:38Isn't it for her?
53:39It really, really is a legacy
53:41This is all about her passion
53:43Her intensity
53:43All captured here within this gallery
53:45Yes
53:46I think Marianne North was ahead of her time
53:49In relation to how she was able to present that gallery
53:52If you look at the way that museums operate today
53:55They're bringing in that kind of spectacle
53:59What a vision
54:01In fact
54:02I've got the original plans
54:05So can I show you
54:07Yes, please
54:08I don't mean very carefully
54:11You hold on to that end
54:12I will
54:13Isn't it amazing
54:15To think that she was holding this piece of paper
54:18Absolutely
54:18I think of her there
54:19With her ruler
54:20And her little pencil
54:21In the gaslight
54:23Or whatever
54:23Of Victoria Street
54:25They're all numbered
54:27So this is her plan
54:28And in fact for this wall
54:30The absolute lack of any space
54:33In between the paintings
54:35Echoes the way in which
54:37There was almost no space
54:38Other than the paintings in her life
54:41I mean, it's so careful, isn't it?
54:44It's like a jigsaw puzzle
54:45In some cases
54:47She did have to add little extensions on
54:49Oh, did she?
54:49If you look very carefully
54:50You can actually see
54:51Where she's added pieces
54:53To the frame
54:54Yes
54:55I mean, it feels like she was quite obsessive
54:58In almost everything that she did, really
55:01Yes, I think so
55:02I think, you know
55:02She had to visit, you know
55:03Her 17 countries
55:05To capture the plants
55:06That she wanted to paint
55:07And I think this gallery
55:09Condensing them all here
55:10Is a reflection of that
55:11I feel that Marianne's paintings
55:14Were definitely a sort of mechanism
55:17For survival
55:18That's the one overriding feeling
55:23You get when you go to the gallery
55:25Is that it is the product
55:27Of an obsessive mind
55:29Those sort of 800-odd paintings
55:31Crammed into this space
55:33Give you a real sense
55:35Of how hard she worked during that time
55:40Despite exhaustion
55:42Marianne is bent on doing things her own way
55:45Part of her vision for the gallery
55:47Is to offer tea and coffee to the public
55:49But Q refuses
55:52Now, anybody other than Marianne
55:55Would just take that
55:56And accept it
55:57But not Marianne North
55:59She took her case
56:02To the House of Commons
56:03And they too turned it down
56:05Here she was
56:06Battling against government
56:09Battling against parliament
56:11Against a male-dominated world
56:14And she's determined
56:15To get her own way
56:16So she decided
56:18Very cunningly, I think
56:19To paint
56:21To plant the tea
56:23And coffee
56:24In the gallery
56:25So over one doorway
56:27We have tea
56:28And over the other
56:29Coffee
56:30It shows
56:31She had not only a determination
56:34Steely determination
56:35But she also had a sense of humour
56:37And that's what I like about them
56:38I wish there were more Mariannes in the world
56:42Seeing the paintings
56:45And feeling the atmosphere in here
56:48It's much more about her love of nature
56:51And the wonder of nature
56:53I think that she just wanted other people
56:56To know and to celebrate nature
56:59In the way that she felt it
57:01I believe you're right
57:02I don't think there was any pretension
57:04She just had the passion
57:06To see plants
57:07And to capture them
57:08To paint them
57:09Makes me want to cry
57:13She was amazing
57:16She was amazing
57:17She was amazing
57:19I think Marianne North
57:23Was happy to break artistic rules
57:26Was happy to break scientific rules
57:28In order to produce a vision
57:29That was very much her own
57:30And that is what was so unique
57:32About her
57:33As a woman in the 19th century
57:35And what makes her very inspiring today
57:38Begin now
57:40By observing as much as you can
57:42Of what nature teaches
57:44And you will find
57:45A new happiness in life
57:47I'm actually a bit sad
57:52That my journey with Marianne
57:54Is coming to an end
57:55But I feel so privileged
57:58To have been invited
57:59Into her family
58:00To have read her personal writings
58:02And memoirs
58:03And to have travelled in her footsteps
58:05In breathtaking Borneo
58:07And now I can embrace all of that
58:13Seeing these life-affirming paintings
58:16I have wandered through her world
58:19And wondered at her world
58:21I only wish I could have met her
58:24Nature in all its glory
58:35Coming up on BBC4
58:36Exploring the breathtaking arts and crafts
58:38Garden of Great Dixter next
58:40Then the final chapter
58:41Of David Attenborough's life story
58:43Takes a look at the devoted
58:45Parenting duties
58:46Within the animal kingdom
58:47To have a wonderful room
58:53Away
58:54To haveнако
58:54After the Guess
58:56Been
58:56Away
58:56Attenborough's work
58:58And there's noelheaded
59:00To have mercy on summer
59:00To have making progress
59:00But fear
59:01B confronting
59:02Into the tree
59:02And there's noel قال
59:03To have mercy on fakult
59:03To have mercy oniggs
59:04To have mercy on her
59:05cross
59:06To have mercy on earth
59:07To have mercy on
59:08To have mercy on
59:09こven
59:10To have mercy on
59:10erfolgreich
59:11To have mercy on
59:12became
59:12The mother
59:13To have mercy on
59:13Keith
59:14To have mercy on
59:14おっ
59:15To have mercy on
59:16To have mercy on