Biographical Account: Rose Mawson was a Sheffield born botanical artist.  She was born in 1855, the daughter of Thomas Mawson - Sheffield's General Post Master.  She attended the Sheffield School of Art  during the 1870s and was noted in several prize listings, ultimately winning the Montgomery Medal in 1889 for her speciality of painting wild flowers in watercolour, without a background.  Her style of painting is amazingly accurate to life and includes minute details on each flower.  In the 1890s, Miss Mawson became an art teacher.  She never married, and after her death in 1936, her estate passed to her sister.  Keen to ensure that Rose's artwork be preserved for posterity, her sister donated many of her watercolours to Weston Park Museum, which had, through its displays, helped to inspire Rose's appreciation of nature.