The flower painter and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté was a peerless master of illustration and engraving of plant motifs, his most famous work, Les Roses, was published in three volumes between 1817 and 1824. This exquisite edition shows his exceptional talent for capturing the beauty of nature with vitality and precision.

The Raphael of Roses

The magnificent illustrations of the queen of flowers

The revered tradition of botanical illustration dates back to the Renaissance. It arose from the desire to catalogue nature in its unpredictable splendour, and the task required the involvement of talented artists.

With his extraordinary ability to capture nature's most intricate subjects, Pierre-Joseph Redouté is considered the greatest painter and engraver of botanical motifs. Working with living plants rather than herbarium specimens gave his watercolours an unusual subtlety and freshness. He was also an innovator in printing methods, and introduced the etching technique of stippling in France in search of greater accuracy in his art. Redouté happened to win the support of some of the most influential patrons of the time, including Marie Antoinette and Empress Josephine Bonaparte, which ensured him good funding and exposure for his work.

His impressive collection comprises more than 2,000 paintings of plants executed with strict fidelity to natural forms. In this exquisite edition of Les Roses, Redouté turns his attention to the most romantic, desirable and evocative flower. Originally published in three volumes between 1817 and 1824, it remains his most famous and celebrated work.

About the author

H. Walter Lackes is professor at the Free University of Berlin and was formerly director of the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem. A leading expert on the history of botany, his research focuses on the transfer of useful and ornamental plants to other parts of the world from a cultural and historical perspective. At TASCHEN he has published the books Garden of Eden, The Book of Palms and Redouté, The Book of Flowers.

Publisher: Taschen