Redoute Watercolor of a Bouquet with Butterfly

REDOUTE, Pierre-Joseph (Belgian, 1759-1840).
Bouquet with Butterfly.
Watercolor and gouache on vellum.
Signed P. J. Reoute pinx"
10 1/2" x 7 1/8" visible, 16 1/2" x 13 1/4" framed.

The unequalled botanical artist, Pierre-Joseph Redoute, occupies a central position in the development of European flower painting. Redoute had as pupils or patrons five queens and empresses of France, from Marie-Antoinette to Empress Josephine and her successor, Marie-Louise. Despite many changes of regime in a turbulent epoch, he worked without interruption, a testament to his greatness as an artist. Les Liliacees, Redoute's largest and most ambitious work, is generally considered to be the artist's masterpiece. Produced under the patronage of the Empress Josephine, for whom Redoute worked as botanical artist at her estate at Malmaison, this pristine example represents a landmark work in the field of flower illustration.

The title is misleading, for the work covers a much broader scope: the work includes representatives of the lily, amaryllis, iris, orchid, and other families. The plates were executed by means of stipple engraving, which, as noted, was a method that the artist himself perfected when he was unsatisfied with the effects garnered by traditional copper-plate engraving. As he shrewdly observed, the delicacy and subtle elegance of his compositions could only be captured using an equally fine printing method. Les Liliacees records the plants of the lily family and related flowers that Josephine collected for her gardens at Malmaison. Redoute's small drawings, placed at the bottom of the main illustrations, record the anatomical features of each species so that each flower could be identified with precision and cultivated to perfection. Redoute's work represents a uniquely harmonious blend of scientific precision and supremely delicate artistry.

"Jardin de la Malmaison" was sponsored by the Empress Josephine, and its plates depict specimens from her gardens, which Ventenat praised in his dedication as a conjunction of "the rarest plants of the French soil [and] the sweetest souvenir of the conquests of your illustrious consort."

While the first quarter of the nineteenth century was dominated by his work on Les Liliacees and Les Roses, Redoute also produced a selection of other original works not necessarily destined for re-creation in published form. Some of these watercolors were additional studies from the Empress Josephine's gardens at Malmaison. These exhibit the same virtuosity as his studies for Les Liliacees and Les Roses, showing the same hallmarks of a white vellum background and bluegreen leaves that Redoute so favored.

Redoute was first brought to Royal patronage by Marie-Antoinette in 1788 when she appointed him Dessinatteur du Cabinet de la Reine and granted him access to the Petit Trianon. From then until the end of his long life Redoute weathered the political storms of France with remarkable ease "he survived the difficult years of the Revolution and the Restoration and found approval with all the rulers who changed in quick succession" (Hinz). However it was ten years later that his most creative period began under the patronage of the Empress Josephine when she acquired the Malmaison Chateau in Rueil, south of Paris: "she was passionately interested in botany and horticulture, and the design and layout of the Malmaison chateau garden became her personal concern. She went to great efforts to collect beautiful and rare plants from all over the world and to cultivate them in her gardens?" (Hinz).

Redoute had, as pupils or patrons, five queens and empresses of France, from Marie Antoinette to Josephine's successor, the Empress Marie-Louise. Despite many changes of regime in this turbulent epoch, he worked without interruption, eventually contributing to over fifty books on natural history and archaeology.