REDOUTE (Pierre-Joseph).
[Prospectus:] Choix des plus Belles Fleurs et des plus Beaux Fruits.
"THE RAPHAEL OF FLOWERS"
A rare prospectus by one of the most famous botanical painters of all time, Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840). He was so highly regarded that he was called “the Raphael of Flowers.”
He was the official court artist of Marie Antoinette; Empresses Josephine and Marie Louis, Dutchess of Parma; plus Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Living at the turn of the nineteenth century put him in direct contact with history. He was employed at the Natural History Museum in 1786, and painted plants from America, Japan, and South Africa. His images of Josephine’s garden at Chateau Malmaison, which she’d acquired in 1798, Jardin de la Malmaison (1803-05) featured 46 Australian examples (from 120).
Choix des plus belles fleurs et des plus beaux fruits (Paris, c.1827) was published in 36 parts and contained 144 hand-coloured copperplates. This is for the quarto edition, appearing over 72 parts at the price of 2 francs 50 centimes each.
