FERN PICTURE. An attractive framework of ferns surrounds a religious verse, “But the merciful goodeness of the Lord endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him and his righteousness upon children’s children.” In very good condition in a later sunken mount. Some very slight loss to fern tips in places, as is nearly always the case with such arrangements. 190mm x 150mm (image size), 260mm x 220mm (mount size). c.1858. ~ The calligraphy suggests that is almost certainly by Dorothy Nevill, It came with another picture which stated 'ferns grown at Dangstein'. ~ Lady Dorothy Fanny Nevill (1826-1913), writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector. She was the youngest of the five children of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford and Mary Fawkener, daughter of William Augustus Fawkener, sometime envoy extraordinary at St Petersburg and close friend of Empress Catherine. In 1851 the Nevills acquired a large Sussex property, 'Dangstein' near Petersfield. Dorothy Nevill turned the estate garden into a horticultural landmark. Her exotic plants were housed in seventeen conservatories and were the subject of numerous articles in journals on horticulture. Through her plants she became friendly with both William and Joseph Hooker at Kew, and supplied Charles Darwin with rare plants for his researches.