Redoute Original Watercolor from Les Liliacees of Hosta Ventricosa

REDOUTE, Pierre-Joseph (Belgian, 1759-1840).
[Hosta Ventricosa] Original watercolor for plate 106 Les Liliacees.
Watercolor on vellum.
Signed lower left: "P. J. Redoute."
18 1/2" x 13" vellum, 27 1/2" x 21 1/2" framed.

Hosta ventricosa, the blue plantain lily, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to southeast and south-central China, and introduced to the eastern United States.

Les Liliacees represents the culmination of Redoute's art in many ways: it is his largest single work; it depicts specimens of the liliacae family, often serving as the first known depictions of these specimens; finally, it contains Redoute's most extensive use of stipple-engraving, a technique which he pioneered in France. Redoute published Les Liliacees under his own name, but the work owes much to the patronage of Empress Josephine Buonaparte. The pair's association began in 1798, when Redoute painted watercolors for the Empress's bedroom at Malmaison and contributed to the record of the plants in the extensive gardens found there, which were later published in Ventenat's "Jardin de la Malmaison" and Bonpland's "Description des Plantes Rares Cultivees Malmaison et Navarre". In each illustration, the flowers are classical, "portraits", defined by lack of backgrounds or settings. The regal simplicity of the compositions allows the viewer to focus without distraction on the beauty and delicate complexity of the plants themselves.