Antique Botanical Prints
Antique botanical prints, like the plants that they depict, are not only beautiful to look at -- they can introduce us to many fascinating areas of study, such as the history of gardening and botany, the history of western explorations, and the development of printmaking in the west. Whether you acquire botanical prints that appeal because of their beauty or you are embarking on a major collection focused perhaps on a particular flower, artist, or technique, there are many fascinating stories to be gleaned which add to the depth and pleasure of the collecting experience.
Most botanical prints were produced to illustrate a larger work, a book, a portfolio, or a journal. Because of the expense and the time-consuming nature of the print production, these publications were often not issued at one point in time, but distributed over a period of years. They were sold by subscription, issued in paper wrappers, and could be bound by the owner or kept loose. There is a considerable quantity of individual prints available (hopefully, prints that were never bound or have been removed from damaged material) as well as complete volumes of botanical studies. Either way, a collection of exquisite images and exciting stories can be put together.
Reflecting the importance of the vegetable world to human health and pleasure, plants have appeared prominently in printed European works since the introduction of the woodcut into Western Europe and the development of the printing press in the late 15th century. It is interesting to study the way in which the types of plants and the manner in which they are depicted have both changed over the centuries, reflecting man's evolving relationship to the plant world and the increasing sophistication of printmaking techniques.
Please VIEW OUR MANY ANTIQUE BOTANICAL PRINTS FOR SALE by
BROWSING THE BOTANICAL LISTS IN THE "Select a Gallery List to Browse" in the Antique Print Gallery
A Brief History of Antique Botanical Prints
HERBALS, whose function was to provide information on the useful properties of plants, were the first illustrated botanical printed works to appear in western Europe. At first they were stylized images in the manner of many of the hand-wrought manuscript herbals which preceded them. The first printed herbal was the Herbal of Apuleius Platonicus, published in Rome circa 1481, with woodcut illustrations. However, by the mid 16th century, the Renaissance interest in the natural world and realism in illustration asserted itself; now herbals with original, more realistically rendered botanical picture studies appeared. Notable among these is Brunfel's Herbarum Vivae Eicones (1530) (with illustrations by Hans Weiditz) and Fuch's De Historia Stirpium (1542). These books have been described by Rix as "the first biological books which relied on scientifically accurate illustrations" (Rix p.30)
FLORILEGIA
The 16th century voyages of discovery brought an influx of strange plants to Europe from all over the world (notably the tomato and tobacco from the New World and the tulip from the East). Wealthy flower enthusiasts bred and proudly displayed these exotic specimens in splendid flower gardens. This new interest in the decorative qualities of plants led to the appearance early in the 17th century of florilegia - picture books of "ornamental" plants, rather than the "useful" plants of the older herbals. At the same time, the introduction of metal plates and intaglio printing (engravings and etchings) brought a new fineness of line and, with this, possibilities for greater sophistication of image. Examples of florilegia include Emmanuel Sweert's Florilegium (1612) and Basil Besler's Hortus Eystettenis (1613).
THE FLOWERING OF BOTANICAL ART
The introduction of the Linnaean sexual system of plant classification in 1737 and its almost universal acceptance gave a tremendous impetus to the production of illustrated botanical books. Benefiting from improved printing techniques, botanical depiction in the latter half of the 18th century saw the marriage of beauty and scientific accuracy. Artists such as Redouté profited from developments in printmaking, e.g. the technique of stipple engraving, which effectively produced tone or shading as part of the printmaking process. Examples:
J.W. Weinmann Phytanthoza Iconographia (1735-45) (including the work of Georg Dionysius Ehret)
Elizabeth Blackwell A Curious Herbal (1737-1739)
Philip Miller An Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus (1770-1777)
Pierre Joseph RedoutéLes Liliacées (1802-1816)
POPULARIZATION
More illustrated flower books were published in the first half of the 19th century than in the whole of the 18th century, as a result of advances in printing, papermaking technologies and an expanded buying public. This period saw the publication of many botanical magazines modeled on the success of William Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Both black-and-white and color reproduction reached a standard that has never since been surpassed, largely owing to the skills developed by artists, engravers and printers, in response to the demands of the botanists. The development of lithography in the early 1800s allowed many botanical artists to produce their own plates, which played no small role in this artistic burgeoning. Examples:
William Curtis The Botanical Magazine (1787 to present day)
Benjamin Maund The Botanist (1836-1842)
Henry Sanders Reichenbachia 1886-94
L. Linden Lindenia 1885-1901
At the end of the nineteenth century, commercial printing was revolutionized by the introduction of photographic techniques, such as the halftone. The transfer of the artist's image to the printing plate was now achieved by mechanical processes, rather than the plate being worked on directly by the artist or craftsman. While allowing for great accuracy, the aesthetic appeal of the manual printmaking processes (woodcut, wood-engraving, intaglio engraving, and lithography) is lacking in these "process" prints.
Interwoven with this history line of botanical publications are the fascinating stories of the botanical explorers, artists and gardeners and the fortunes of the plants themselves. The stories of two of these players, the explorer David Douglas and the artist Elizabeth Blackwell, hint at the wealth of interesting detail behind the prints.
In 1736, Blackwell set herself up opposite Chelsea Physic Garden with the purpose of producing a herbal and using the profits from this publication (which involved her drawing the plants, engraving the plates and then handcoloring the prints) to secure her husband's release from debtor's prison. The Curious Herbal, published in weekly parts between 1737 and 1739, was a commercial success and her husband was released, only to be beheaded several years later in Sweden because of his involvement in a subversive political plot.
David Douglas was sent by the Royal Horticultural Society on several trips to North America in the 1820s and 1830s; the accounts of his lone adventures in the Pacific Northwest are daunting -- he eventually met his death in Hawaii having fallen into a pit into with a wild bullock. Among the many plant specimens that Douglas sent back to London was Ribes sanguineum, a beautiful flowering currant, which became a staple in British suburban gardens. Coats writes in The Book of Flowers that "The Horticultural Society considered that the introduction of this shrub alone was worth the whole cost (some £400) of Douglas's three-year expedition."
Through handling antique prints, the characteristic features of botanicals from different eras will become familiar to the collector. The quality of the printmaking techniques used (now associated with "fine art" prints) and the quality of the papers will soon make apparent to the beginning collector the reason genuine antique prints (as opposed to modern reproductions) are sought after. In addition, many examples are available at a very modest cost. With every print in a collection there is the pleasure of establishing the name and origin of the plant, the artist and printmaker, the type of printing technique and the purpose of the publication. Practically every print will have a fascinating story attached to it, and the pleasure is of course in discovering these stories, while admiring the beauty of the object.
BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOTANICAL REFERENCE BOOKS
Blunt, Wilfred and William Stearn. The Art of Botanical Illustration. Antique Collectors Club. 2000. A revised edition of a the classic work first published in 1950.
Blunt, Wilfred and Sandra Raphael. The Illustrated Herbal. Thames and Hudson. 1979.
Bridson, Gavin D.R. and Donald E. Wendel. Printmaking in the Service of Botany. Hunt Institute. 1986.
Coats, Alice M. The Book of Flowers. Phaidon. 1973.
Coats, Alice M. The Treasury of Flowers. Phaidon. 1975.
Desmond, Ray. A Celebration of Flowers. Two hundred years of Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Royal Botanic Gardens. 1987.
Dunthorne, Gordon. Flower and Fruit Prints of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Da Capo. 1970.
Hewson, Helen. Australia. 300 Years of Botanical Illustration. CSIRO. 1999.
Rix, Martyn. The Art of Botanical Illustration. Arch Cape Press. 1990. (First published as The Art of the Plant World by The Overlook Press in 1981)
Sitwell, Sacheverell and Wilfred Blunt. Great Flower Books 1700 - 1900. Atlantic Monthly Press. 1990.
