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Leila Lyons Featured in California Homes Article for Botanical Print Collection
June 15, 2005 - June 16, 2005
While man's fascination with flora dates from the Garden of Eden, there is no real time line of its development. In the early and Middle ages, man's garden was a safe haven and represented the civilized world, both symbolically and in reality. The world outside the garden was, figuratively, and really, untamed, uncharted and full of evil: a wilderness.
Although drawings of flowers and herbs existed on walls of caves and in scholarly folios well before the birth of Christ, a shipment of tulip bulbs from Constantinople to Antwerp in 1562 was a milestone in Europe's love affair with flowers. Not just a milestone but the start of a panic, Tulipomania, the unquenchable fixation on tulips that set moneyed Europeans into a feeding frenzy for tulip bulbs to propagate and tulip
drawings and paintings to savor. (At the height of the craze for these exotic blooms, tulip bulbs sold for thousands of dollars and were traded as a commodity.) In the course of the late 16th century and early 17th century, demand for botanical drawings leapt from libraries of scholars
to the royalty, their nobility and the landed gentry. Groups of scholars and educated men were formed to study plants and flowers (in London in 1671, a young Isaac Newton joined such a group); these groups generally pursued an intellectual and scientific course, and included the Royal
Society in England which helped to plan and fund the famous voyage of Captain Cook.
During the same period scientific clubs or wealthy individuals published books called Florilegium, collections of flower and fruit paintings, often diverse selections of work by many different artists. (Please keep in mind, dear readers, that we're talking about the 1500s and 1600s when
only a privileged few were taught to read and write and when books were laboriously produced, mostly by hand. Happily, many beautiful images of specimen flower and fruit still remain.) It was during this general time period that tropical fruits like oranges and lemons became known to
northern Europe; hence, the construction of special buildings called orangeries to house them in winter.
One gifted artist of particular interest was a woman. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), who not only broke through the gender barrier of the period, but traveled at least twice from Europe to South America to study and paint tropical flowers and insects. Her paintings, as well as all artists of this genre, were [also] not only beautiful to behold but were scientific studies of the subjects.
In the 18th century, well-to-do patrons were more than ever involved in cultivating their gardens with the latest imported plants from exotic places and continued to buy or commission paintings or folio books on botanical subjects. As scholars tried to keep up with the burst of interest, one young Swedish nobleman, Carl von Linné, later called
Linnaeus, introduced a concept which gave everyone - scholar, scientist, and gardener - equal footing. Linnaeus gave each plant (and animal) a genus name and a species name in Latin, which we use to this day. His books, Systema Naturae (1735) and Species Plantarium (1753), gave plant
people a common language for reference. It also spawned a new surge of paintings and books on flowers.
Throughout the 18th century, and especially during the 19th century, new developments in printing and lithography made the botanical paintings much more accessible and therefore more fashionable. Some of the best known and most spectacular botanical books were created in the
18th century; possibly the most stunning at the time of its publication in 1799 was Dr. Robert Thornton's The Temple of Flora. [Other publications include] the Plantae Selectae by Georg Dionysius Ehret, published by Dr. Christophe Trew (1750), Ehret's own book Plantae et Papiliones (1748), and William Curtis’ Botanical Magazine (1787).
Among the great botanical artists of the 17th and 18th centuries are: Basel Besler, Johann Volckamer, Georg Dionysius Ehret, Samuel Curtis and John Edwards.
In the last hours of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th (as you know, this was the century of industrialization and change), Pierre-Joseph Redouté became an artist of interest who helped shape the history of botanical art through his close friendship with Josephine,
Napoleon's Empress. Redouté's paintings of the flower species in Josephine's garden were published as the Jardin de la Malmaison which appeared periodically – twenty issues in all. This was followed by eight volumes of Liliaces (1802-1816) and Les Roses (1817-1824). Though
commissioned by Josephine, her death in 1814 prevented her from seeing Les Roses, the most beautiful and famous of Redouté's volumes.
The passion for flora continued to flourish through the first half of the 19th century - fed in part by new exploration in areas like South America where discoveries of new orchid varieties made that exotic flower the subject of many paintings and books (less expensive glass also made conservatories and glasshouses the rage - they were the perfect environment for cultivating orchids). Some of the better known and talented artists of this generation were Walter Hood Fitch, George Brookshaw, Sydenham Teast Edwards, Jane Wells Webb, and Mrs. Augusta Withers who called herself "Flower Painter to Queen Adelaide" (Wife of King William IV of England, 1830-1837.)
Today you can still find astonishingly beautiful botanical prints by some of the greats of the 17th , 18th , and 19th centuries at comparatively reasonable prices, though these are rising as availability diminishes.
As with any collecting of antiques, it is best to start by educating yourself through reading, visiting libraries and museums, and, of course, meeting and talking with reputable dealers. Since we're referring to botanicals that were originally in books, libraries are rich sources, especially the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City and the Hunt Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Leila Lyons of Lyons Antique Prints in Palo Alto is the doyenne of the California print scene; she also shows at antique shows across the country. You will find excellent information on her website www.LyonsLtd.com.
There is so much to be said about prints: the processes of making various types, what to look for regarding condition, color, paper; the field is enormous but so is the capacity to collect botanical prints. I suggest you start soon. They are timeless ever-fresh reminders of the ravishing world of flora.
Image for article provided by Lyons Ltd. Antique Prints.
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