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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botanical illustration | 7/11 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botanical_illustration | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T10:43:35.237685+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== 18th century === After the emergence of plant anatomy in the 17th, the 18th century saw that of plant physiology, which has since had a profound influence on the development of all areas of botany. Stephen Hales is considered the father of plant physiology for his many experiments in Vegetable Staticks (1727). As for Carl Linnaeus, he is widely recognized as the father of modern botanical nomenclature. Linnaeus introduced several key innovations in taxinomy. First, he applied binomial nomenclature, assigning each species a two-part Latin name, while also emphasizing detailed morphological characterization. This system allowed for clearer, more systematic classification. Additionally, he implemented a precise terminology for describing plant morphology, especially floral and fruit structures. Building on Jungius's work, Linnaeus carefully defined terms that became standard in botanical descriptions. Through his major works—Systema Naturae (1735) and "Species Plantarum" (1753), —he revolutionized taxonomy, creating a framework still used today. In Hortus Cliffortianus (1737), a collaboration between Linnaeus and the illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret, he described 2536 genres et espèces de plantes. He organised their list according to the system he had established in the Specis Plantarum and in the Systema Naturae. To name the plants, he relied on his Critica Botanica. Ehret used many "exploded details" showing intricate dissections As botanical nomenclature became more structured and taxonomic classifications were regularly documented in scientific publications, botanical illustrations remained essential to provide clear, detailed depictions of plants that helped botanists, horticulturists, and enthusiasts accurately identify various species. A growing number of amateur botanists, gardeners, and natural historians provided a market for floras and other botanical publications and illustrations increased the appeal and accessibility of these to the general reader. Johann Wilhelm Weinmann, in his Phytanthoza Iconographia (1737–1745), collaborated with Bartholomäus Seutter, Johann Elias Ridinger, and Johann Jakob Haid. These artists produced over 1,000 hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of several thousand plants, including depictions of tulips, and what to Europeans were then exotic, newly discovered flora and fauna, such as the banana tree, making this book one of the most comprehensive and highly regarded color-plate florilegia of its time. Haid also worked on the Plantae selectae (1750) of Christoph Jakob Trew, alongside Georg Dionysius Ehret (who also contributed to Hans Sloane's protégé Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1729–1747) (also with coloured engravings). John Miller published Illustratio Systematis Sexualis Linnaei (Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus, 1770–1777) which helped popularize the work of Linnaeus to English readers. In the mid-19th century, extensive horticultural studies emerged, including Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau's Traité des arbres et arbustes qui se cultivent en France en pleine terre, 1755, or Traité des arbres fruitiers, 1768. Robert Sweet, originally trained as a gardener, published a number of works on plants cultivated in British gardens and hothouses with plates mainly drawn by Edwin Dalton Smith, and The Florist's Guide and Cultivator's Directory, both aimed at plant enthusiasts and their gardeners. An early pomologist like Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, Johann Hermann Knoop published Pomology, or description of the best kinds of apples and pears (1758) and said illustrations were indispensable to help avoid mistakes caused by the fact that the same fruit was (still) often known by different names. Jan van Huysum, known for his bouquets of flowers and particularly his tulips, contributed to John Hill's Eden, or, A Compleat Body of Gardening, 1757, written with Thomas Hale. Hill is mostly remembered for The Vegetable System, 1759–1775, a huge botanical work illustrated by 1,600 copper-plate engravings. An early mycologist Jacob Christian Schäffer published several richly illustrated volumes on mushrooms "depicted in their natural colors" (1759). Michel Étienne Descourtilz, Des champignons comestibles, suspects et vénéneux... (Edible, suspect and poisonous mushrooms... Accompanied by ten plates of drawings made from life, carefully coloured and representing two hundred species grouped together in the terrain that feeds them, 1827). Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin's most influential publication may have been Selectarum Stirpium Americanarum Historia (1763), which detailed many plants from the Americas as he had been sent to the West Indies, Central America, Venezuela and New Granada (1755–1759). He also introduced many exotic species to Europe. Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz, Herbier colorié de l'Amérique (Coloured herbarium of America, 1762) and more usefully, perhaps, Lettres sur la méthode de s'enrichir promptement, et de conserver sa santé, par la culture des végétaux exotiques, 1768. There were other botanical expeditions, such as James Cook's first voyage around the world (1768–1771), during which Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander increased the known flora of the world by 25 percent (Banks' Florilegium was published much later). The first volumes of Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle's Stirpes Novae (New Plants) were published in Paris in 1784–85, with full-page illustrations of all newly discovered species. Beginning with the second volume, the plates were drawn by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, marking the beginning of his recognition as a talented botanical illustrator. Jacob Christoph Le Blon and Jacques Fabien Gautier d'Agoty invented a four-colour printing printing process in Collection des plantes usuelles, curieuses et étrangères... et imprimées en couleur (1767). Pierre Bulliard developed a different and cheaper colour printing process. Botanical illustration accompanied the development of agronomy (a term that appeared in the late 18th century) and the seed trade. Johann Simon von Kerner, Illustration of All Economic Plants (Abbildung aller oekonomischen Pflanzen, Stuttgart 1786–96) is a notable example from this period. Vegetables, overlooked by illustrators after the vogue for herbals waned, resurfaced thanks to seed merchants like Vilmorin-Andrieux, who employed botanical artists (before 1783). A new genre of books appeared, that of botanical monographs like Carl Wilhelm Ernst Putsche's Versuch einer Monographie der Kartoffeln (on potatoes, 1819) or like Pierre-Joseph Redouté's Geraniologia (1787–1788), Les Liliacées (1802–1816), for which Redouté practised colour-printed stipple engraving or Les Roses (1817–1824), or John Lindley's Rosarum Monographia. Sarah Drake was a major contributor to Lindley's Edwards's Botanical Register. The first botanical magazines were published in the late 18th century : "Curtis's Botanical Magazine" (1787 to the present), launched by William Curtis, is one of the most famous and long-running botanical magazines. It has employed many talented illustrators giving detailed views as well as exploded details and cross sections. Sydenham Edwards worked for Curtis's magazine and then to The Botanical Register. With a wider audience and ever increasing publication material, specialized journals such as this one or the Annales de chimie et de physique (Paris, 1789) reflect the growing division between scientific disciplines in the Enlightenment era. The Linnean Society of London, a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy, was founded in 1788. George Voorhelm Schneevoogt (1775–1850)'s Icones plantarum rariorum (Illustrations of rare and beautiful flowers and plants, drawn, engraved and colored after nature, 1793) has hand-coloured illustrations by Hendrik Schwegman and text in Dutch, French and German. Jean Goulin and Labeyrie led the team that created a dictionary of useful plants, trees and shrubs (1793–94). Étienne Pierre Ventenat published Description des plantes nouvelles et peu connues, cultivées dans le jardin de J.-M. Cels (1799), a horticulturist, and Jardin de la Malmaison (1803) both with illustrations by Redouté. The Château de Malmaison housed a collection of rare plants.