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It really helps if you are a "high-bred" White woman. Money opens doors--the doors that were closed to the women who helped keep her house, cooked her meals, and most definitely, organized her collections.

at least, if i was her maid, id get to travel to exciting places..

You imagine a job very different from one from 1830. If you were her "maid", you'd be washing her smalls, and cleaning her clothes, serving her food, and bathing her. You might get an exciting Sunday afternoon to look out the window of the hotel.

You're right. Money helps, always has and still does. That said, very few people of means take personal risks to advance something meaningful for those other than themselves. She did.

I've actually worked with a couple of billionaires and many millionaires. OLDE MONEY. Generational wealth, never a care about how they'll succeed--it's guaranteed. Yes, the Rockefellers, DuPonts, etc., etc. have done wonders in philanthropy, but their world is completely different. They assume

North rejected delicate watercolors for vibrant oils, painting plants alive in their full habitats. She routinely climbed cliffs, trekked through wilderness, and camped for months in rainforests to find rare blooms. She traveled to Australia & NZ to capture primitive flora.

Initially dismissed by male peers as a "decorative artist," her intense visual accuracy led to real scientific breakthroughs. She documented ~900 species; a genus (Northia) & the massive Bornean pitcher plant (Nepenthes northiana; she was the first non-local to find it 👇) bear her name. #WomenInSTEM

Opened in 1882 at Kew Gardens, the Marianne North Gallery holds 832 of her oil paintings. When denied permission to serve tea inside, she rebelliously painted tea and coffee plants on the doors. It is the only permanent solo female art exhibition in the #UK. #ArtHistory