Redoute Most Beautiful

REDOUTE, Pierre-Joseph. The masterpiece of Redoute's later years, the greatest botanical artist of the golden era of botanical illustration Choix des plus belles fleurs prises dans differentes familles du regne vegetal et de quelques branches des plus beaux fruits groupees quelquefois, et souvent animees par des insects et des papillons. Gravees, imprimees en couleur et retouches au pinceau avec un soin qui doit repondre de leur perfection. Dedie a LL. AA. RR. Les princesses Louise et Marie d'Orleans par P.J. Redoute Chevalier de la [ .] de la Societe de geographie de France, etc., etc., etc. Paris, chez Chez l'auteur C.L.F. Panckoucke Bossange pere Treuttel et Wurtz Dufart Arthus-Bertrand Imprimerie de C.L.F. Panckoucke, 1827.
Splendid complete set of the of this 'retirage' of 1833 with the original title of the most sumptuous and accomplished of Redoute's later productions. It exhibits his artistic abilities to the full, with a noted preference for set floral pieces and bouquets, often adorned with butterflies and other insects.The <I>Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs</I> (Selection of the most beautiful flowers) is the masterpiece of Redoute's later years. This most celebrated of botanical artists (1759-1840) came from a Belgian family of painters, and served (under various titles) as drawing master to the queens and princesses of France for half a century. He became most known by his paintings of flowers in the garden of <I>Malmaison. </I> Redoute was the official court artist of Marie Antoinette, for whom he painted plants from the garden of the Small Trianon. Among his pupils were Queen Hortense, the Duchesse de Berry, Lady Adelaide d'Orleans (King Louis-Philippe's sister), and Louise and Marie d'Orleans, to whom the <I>Choix</I> was dedicated: the latter became the first Queen of the Belgians. Over his eighty years, Redoute weathered the many changes in French society with remarkable ease, prospering under old and new regimes by adjusting to the times. During the uncertain period of the French Revolution he kept on drawing and painting; it became Redoutes task to document gardens which became national property. Redoute could really use his talents when he worked for empress Josephine de Beauharnais, making drawings and paintings of flowers from all over the world and of roses in the garden of <I>Malmaison. </I>After her death he started working for the <I>Musee d'Histoire Naturelle,</I> where he held for more than 16 years the position of <I>Maitre du dessin.</I>The great multivolume folio scientific monographs of his middle period - the roses, the lilies, the succulent plants - were complemented in his later years by elegant quarto albums that featured selections of the more beautiful or striking plants. They were, essentially, art books of the highest quality. The finest of these, the <I>Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs</I> was issued in 36 parts between 1827 and 1833, with 144 superb hand-colored stipple engravings, of fruit as well as flowers. The most accomplished engravers of the period were engaged to translate his original paintings into stipple engravings, in which the plates are etched with small dots rather than lines. Indeed, Redoute helped refine the stipple engraving process to best capture the subtle effects, luminosity, sheen and dimensionality of his original paintings. Through a method he invented in 1796, the colors were applied to the engraved plate a la poupee before each printing, "giving to our prints all the softness and brilliance of a watercolor," as Redoute noted. Finally, each print was finished with additional coloring by hand. Redoute's high standards are evident in the striking way in which the resulting prints capture the subtle delicacy of flower petals and foliage.The book is notable, too, for its retrospective preface, in which Redoute reflects on his life and achievements. The scientific significance of the beautiful plates , besides the artistic importance, can not be underestimated; Redoute made over 2.100 drawings of 1.800 different plant species of which a great part was unknown until that moment.
Very fine set.
<I>Cat. Arpad Plesch</I> (p. 377) gives the same title (but 'H. 495 mm') with same imprint (1827): 'Ire Edition'. ('' Ce superbe ouvrage, un des plus beaux de tous les recueils de gravures de fleurs, montrant a son meilleure avantage l'eclat de la gravure en couleurs, fut publie d'abord sans texte, en 1827 en 30 livraisons de 4 pl. [... = 120 pl.]. En 1833, Panckoucke donna un retirage des pl. accompagne d'une table, du fait d'incorrections dans le libelle de pl. incorrectement legends. Travail confie a Guillemin. Cette edition fur publie en cahiers de 2 pl. avec texte [...]').; Nissen, <I>BBI </I>1591: ''Späterer Neudruck des Titels: 'Choix des plus belles fleurs et des plus beaux fruits'. = Nr. 20 in: <I>A Catalogue of Redouteana</I> (Hunt Bot. Library, 1963). Nr. 21 of the same Catalogue, however, has the same text on the title, but a different imprint: 'Chez l'auteur ... Arthus-Bertrand, et chez les principaux Librairies et Marchands d'estampes de la France et de l'Etanger. 1829'. (''This is allegedly one of the five copies on large paper, reported to have been finished by Redoute himself''); Dunthorne 235; <I>Great Flower Books</I>, p. 72; Stafleu & Cowan IV, 8750; Pritzel 7456.

3 vols. Folio (ca. 345 x 260 mm.). Contemporary full grained red morocco, decorated gilt spine with title lettered in gold, sides with decorated gilt borders, red paper with floral design for paste-downs and endpapers. Preserved in a later red cloth portfolio. With 144 full-page coloured stipple engravings (ca. 270 x 210 mm), finished by hand by Bessin, Chapuy, Langlois and Victor after the designs of Redoute. Vol. 1: Title and leaf with 'Avertissement' by P.J. Redoute (same lvs. also bound before the plates of vol. 2; at the end of vol. 3: half-title with 'Avis' by Guillemin, dated Paris, 1 May 1833, on verso (pp. 1-2), Table alphabetique et explicative, printed (p. 17): Paris, Imprimerie Selligue, Rue Montmartre, 131 (pp. 3-17).

[SW: Colour Plate Books; 19th Century; Botany; French]

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REDOUTE, Pierre-Joseph. Choix des plus belles fleurs prises dans differentes familles du regne vegetal et de quelques branches des plus beaux fruits groupees quelquefois, et souvent animees par des insects et des papillons. Gravees, imprimees en couleur et retouches au pinceau avec un soin qui doit repondre de leur perfection. Dedie a LL. AA. RR. Les princesses Louise et Marie d'Orleans par P.J. Redoute Chevalier de la . de la Societe de geographie de France, etc., etc., etc. Paris, chez Chez l'auteur C.L.F. Panckoucke Bossange pere Treuttel et Wurtz Dufart Arthus-Bertrand Imprimerie de C.L.F.Panckoucke, 1827. Folio (ca. 34.5 x 26 cm.). 3 volumes. With 144 full-page coloured stipple engravings (ca. 27 x 21 cm), finished by hand by Bessin, Chapuy, Langlois and Victor after the designs of Redoute. Contemporary full grained red morocco in a later red cloth portfolio.
Illustrations [Engraving],Colour Platebooks, Botany [General],Natural History

<I>Cat. Arpad Plesch (p. 377) gives the same title (but 'H. 495 mm') with same imprint (1827): 'Ire Edition'. ('' Ce superbe ouvrage, un des plus beaux de tous les recueils de gravures de fleurs, montrant a son meilleure avantage l'eclat de la gravure en couleurs, fut publie d'abord sans texte, en 1827 en 30 livraisons de 4 pl. [... = 120 pl.]. En 1833, Panckoucke donna un retirage des pl. accompagne d'une table, du fait d'incorrections dans le libelle de pl. incorrectement legends. Travail confie a Guillemin. Cette edition fur publie en cahiers de 2 pl. avec texte [...]').; Dunthorne 235; Great Flower Books, p. 72; Stafleu & Cowan IV, 8750; Pritzel 7456.</I>Splendid complete set of the of this 'retirage' of 1833 with the original title of the most sumptuous and accomplished of Redoute's later productions. It exhibits his artistic abilities to the full, with a noted preference for set floral pieces and bouquets, often adorned with butterflies and other insects.The <I>Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs </I>(Selection of the most beautiful flowers) is the masterpiece of Redoute's later years.The book is notable, too, for its retrospective preface, in which Redoute reflects on his life and achievements. The scientific significance of the beautiful plates , besides the artistic importance, can not be underestimated; Redoute made over 2.100 drawings of 1.800 different plant species of which a great part was unknown until that moment. Very fine set.

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FERUSSAC, D. DE. & DESHAYES, G.P. Histoire Naturelle generale et particuliere des Mollusques Terrestres et Fluviatiles ... 1820

Paris, J.B. Bailliere, 1820-1851. 4 volumes. Folio. With 247 engraved plates, almost all printed in colours and finished by hand. Recent red half morocco, spines with 4 raised bands, gilt ornaments and lettering. Large Paper copy of one of the rarest and most beautiful conchological works. Some moderate foxing to text as well as plates. "Posterity is grateful to Ferussac for some of the most beautiful and accurate coloured figures of non-marine molluscs ever published" (Dance p. 91). It is also the last and one of the finest examples of French colour-printing by Langlois, the printer responsible for some of Redoute's finest work. The work had a long and complicated publishing history with the result that few copies are found complete. The first 28 parts, by Ferussac, appeared between 1820 and 1832, containing 162 plates and 128 pages of text. In 1838 another six instalments were issued by Deshayes. The death of the publisher and departure of Deshayes to Algeria again brought the work to a halt. In 1848 Bailliere acquired the stock and plates and convinced Deshayes that a work of such beauty and scientific importance could not remain unfinished. Eight more instalments were published. Deshayes is responsible for the greatest part of the text and 85 plates. The colour-printing and handcolouring were executed under supervision of Langlois and after his death by his pupil and successor, Geny-Gros, the plates were drawn by the finest natural history artists in France at the time: Bessa, Huet, Pretre, and Riocreux. Bailliere in his "Avertissement de l'editeur' tells how as a consequence of the 1848 Revolution the most outstanding natural history artists could not find employment, apart from his work. B.M.(N.H.) II, 569; Nissen ZBI, 1348.

[SW: Shells / Molluscs]

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THORNTON, Robert John (circa 1768-1837). - Peter HENDERSON: The Nodding Renealmia [Pl. 13]

London: Nov. 1, 1801. Hand-coloured and colour-printed aquatint, stipple and line engraving by Caldwell. Sight size: 20 x 15 1/4 inches. Gold-leaf frame, "Amiran" archival glass, with UV protection and an anti-reflective surface. Framed size: 27 3/4 x 22 3/4 inches. The most strikingly beautiful set of flower plates ever to be printed in England. "This graceful plant [Catimbium speciosum (Wendl.) Holttum], which Thornton says 'rises by the banks of rivers to a height of near twenty feet' is a native of China and Japan and was introduced to the West about 1792 by Sir Joseph Banks. It flowers in May and when first seen was immediately proclaimed for the beauty of its pink sweetly scented flowers. Thornton was impressed with the way its inflorescence opened in stages, each of which had a charm of its own: he described it as follows: In the first stage the buds are enveloped within a leafy sheath, in the centre, supporting at the top a small leaf. The inside is a beautiful crimson. The flower then shoots out a real spatha consisting of two leaves of light green, elegantly running into crimson. These droop, when the buds all appear regularly disposed like tiles of a house, of a beautiful white, tipped with crimson. They then appear glossy, as if formed of a most perfect wax. From an absolute depending position, the flower-stalk gradually becomes nodding, the protecting leaf in the centre of the plant withers and from the bottom upwards the flowers take a contrary direction, the buds each turning back as they open, displaying a lovely assemblage of the most captivating flowers" (Ronald King, The Temple of Flora by Robert Thornton, 1981, p.72). Thornton's The Temple of Flora is the greatest English colour-plate flower book. "...[Thornton] inherited a competent fortune and trained as a doctor. He appears to have had considerable success in practice and was appointed both physician to the Marylebone Dispensary and lecturer in medical botany at Guy's and St. Thomas's hospitals. But quite early in his career he embarked on his...great work. What Redoute produced under the patronage of L'Heritier, Marie Antoinette, the Empress Josephine, Charles X, and the Duchesse de Berry, Thornton set out to do alone...Numerous important artists were engaged...twenty-eight paintings of flowers [were] commissioned from Abraham Pether, known as 'Moonlight Pether,' Philip Reinagle,...Sydenham Edwards, and Peter Henderson...The result...involved Thornton in desperate financial straits...In an attempt to extricate himself he organized the Royal Botanic Lottery, under the patronage of the Prince Regent...It is easy to raise one's eyebrows at Thornton's unworldly and injudicious approach to publishing...But he produced...one of the loveliest books in the world" (Alan Thomas, Great Books and Book Collecting, pp.142-144). First state of two of this plate from The Temple of Flora. "There are two states of the plate, the principal changes in the second being the addition of much...aquatint to the foreground, while the outline of the mountains has been strengthened" (Handasyde Buchanan, Thornton's The Temple of Flora, 1951, p.17).

[SW: Botanical 12351.jpg]

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