Author: SPAENDONCK, Gerard van.
Title: Digitale pourprée. Digitalis purpurea L. from: [Fleurs Dessinées d'Après Nature,… Recueil utile aux amateurs, aux jeunes artistes, aux élèves des écoles centrales et aux dessinateurs des manufactures].[Paris, 1799-1801]. Folio. Stipple engraved plate, printed in colour à la poupée and finished by hand, of a Common Foxglove. With on a sidebranch flowers in various stages, one cut branch and a green shoot, signed 'P.F. Le Grand sculp.' In passepartout.
Description: A fine colour printed illustration of a Common Foxglove from one of the rarest of the great flower books, by Gerard van Spaendonck (1746-1822), a proponent of the Dutch school of floral painting. After his arrival in Paris in 1770, he introduced new elements such as elaborate vases and rich fabrics to embellish his sophisticated compositions, and singlehandedly transformed the genre of flower painting in France (Tongiorgi Tomasi). In 1780 he became Professeur de Peinture de Fleurs at the Jardin des Plantes. Among his many pupils was Pierre Joseph Redouté.The book [Fleurs Dessinées d'Après Nature...],was originally published in 6 parts with 4 plates, all parts in printed paper wrappers. The engravings were originally printed in black as well as in colour.In very good condition. This flowerprint is both a truthful rendering of nature and a masterful artwork.l Van Boven & Segal, Gerard & Cornelis van Spaendonck, pp. 178-184, no. 5; on the book cf.: Blunt, pp. 197-200; Dunthorne 1938; Nissen, BBI 1879.

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