Rhododendron Falconeri

Rhododendron Falconeri records a specific species: a tree-sized Himalayan rhododendron introduced to Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth century and now naturalised in the milder, acid-soiled gardens of the south and west. R. falconeri carries massive corrugated leaves, indumented rust-brown beneath, and dome-shaped trusses of creamy bell-shaped flowers. The print likely concentrates on a single truss or flowering branch, allowing Doyle's etched line to delineate the heavy ribbed leaves while aquatint or carborundum builds the velvety underside of the foliage. The choice of subject is characteristic: rather than a generic rhododendron, she names the species, signalling the horticultural literacy that runs through her botanical work and her closeness to the great Irish woodland gardens — Mount Stewart, Kilmacurragh, the rhododendron collections of Cork and Kerry — where R. falconeri stands as a familiar specimen tree. The work belongs to her studies of named plants made at Graphic Studio Dublin, where intaglio remains the dominant technique and where she has been a member since shortly after her 1991 graduation from NCAD.