Redouté. Roses

<p>The revered tradition of <strong>botanical illustration </strong>dates back to the Renaissance. It emerged from the desire to catalog nature in its unpredictable splendor, and the process demanded the most precise and talented of artists.<br />With a remarkable skill that captured the most intricate subjects in nature, <strong>Pierre-Joseph Redouté</strong> is widely considered the best <strong>painter and engraver of botanical illustration</strong>. Working from live plants rather than from the herbarium specimens gave his watercolors unusual <strong>subtlety and freshness</strong>. He was also an <strong>innovator in printing techniques</strong>, introducing "stipple-engraving" to France, always striving for greater exactitude in his art. Redouté fortuitously acquired some of the most influential patrons of the time, including <strong>Marie Antoinette</strong> and <strong>Empress Josephine Bonaparte</strong>, thus ensuring that his work was well-funded and displayed.His impressive collection comprises over 2,000 paintings of plants rendered with <strong>great accuracy and strict adherence to nature</strong>. In this exquisite edition of <em>Les Roses, </em>Redouté turns his attention to the <strong>most romantic, desirable, and evocative flower</strong>. Originally published in three volumes between 1817 and 1824, it remains his most famous and celebrated work.</p>