Plate 131, Fritillaria Imperialis, from "Les Liliacées"

Pierre Joseph Redouté

1802–16 · Stipple engraving with hand coloring · Drawings and Prints

Published in eighty parts between 1802 and 1816, Les liliacées is Redouté’s largest and most ambitious work, and perhaps the one for which he is best known today. Each of its 503 plates contains a lifesize and naturalistic depiction of a flower, carefully rendered in stipple engraving and watercolor. Redouté created the portfolio under the patronage of Josephine Bonaparte, who cultivated a great variety of flowers in her garden at the Château de Malmaison. Her roses served as Redouté’s models for his equally elaborate publication Les roses (1817–24).

Artist

Pierre Joseph Redouté

Date

1802–16

Medium

Stipple engraving with hand coloring

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2019