Pierre-Joseph Redouté’s Floral Paintings

Pierre-Joseph Redouté was among the great flower painters of any age. During Napoleon’s reign he was commissioned to paint the roses in Empress Josephine’s garden at Château de Malmaison, her villa outside of Paris. She was devoted to horticulture and filled gardens with both native and exotic roses. Redouté’s fine detailed watercolors were translated into stipple engravings by the best printers in Paris in order to reach a wider audience. The plates were etched with small dots rather than lines. Redouté refined the process to best capture the subtle effects, luminosity, sheen and dimensionality. They are perhaps the most frequently reproduced of all botanical illustrations.

If you are a fan of classical botanical and nature art like Les Roses, be sure to visit the Maximus Gallery at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.