“Rosa pimpinelli folia Pumila / Petit Rosier Pimprenelle”

Pierre-Joseph Redoute is the most celebrated of all flower painters. Not only was his an enormous talent, but he was also able to attract royal patronage no matter what the political climate; first becoming the drawing master of Marie Antoinette, and then, to Empress Josephine.  The patronage of the Empress marks the most successful phase in Redoute’s dazzling career. Josephine was an enthusiastic collector of rare plants and she engaged Redoute to make drawings of the specimens she planted in her gardens at Malmaison.  Redoute drew and painted all the varieties of roses that were cultivated many of which are the ancestors of today’s varieties. These paintings were translated into engravings which were the illustrations to a work entitled Les Roses.
This engraving is from the octavo edition of the work published by Claude Antoine Thory in Paris between 1828-29.

Stipple engraving, hand colored.

9 x 6 ¼ inches sheet size.

Very good condition.