Pierre Joseph Redoute

PIERRE JOSEPH REDOUTE (Saint-Hubert, Belgium, 1759-1840).
"Bouquet of flowers", 1836.
Watercolor.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 32 x 24 cm.

Redouté combined his passion for art and nature, creating botanical illustrations of great precision and beauty like the one we are now bidding for. Today he is considered one of the greatest botanical illustrators of all time and a pioneer of botanical painting. It is believed that he produced more than 2,100 drawings of 1,800 different species of plants, many of which were unknown at the time.

Pierre-Joseph Redouté was a painter and botanist known primarily for his watercolors of flowers, especially roses and lilies. He is considered one of the greatest botanical illustrators of all time, and his works have been widely celebrated for their accuracy and beauty. He was the official court artist to Marie Antoinette of Austria, for whom he painted plants in the garden of the Kleine Trianon, and to Joséphine de Beauharnais, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1822 he entered the service of the National Museum of Natural History. His work "Les Roses" is considered one of the masterpieces of botanical illustration. He worked with other botanists, participated in botanical expeditions and received recognition for his work, such as the Order of Leopold of Belgium. Today his work is preserved in his own museum in Wallonia and in the Museum of Romantic Life, among other important institutions.