Details: REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840). Rosa Gallica Pontiana / Rosier du Pont. [Paris: Firmin Didot], 1817-1824. Stipple engraving, with expert later hand-coloring, by Bessin, after Redouté, printed by Rémond. Very good condition. Sheet size: 14 x 10 5/8 inches.

A fine example of a composition by the greatest of all flower painters.

Pierre-Joseph Redouté's most famous work, 'Les Roses', was issued in a number of forms, the most desirable of which included the plates in two states. Gavin Bridson and Donald Wendel, in their magisterial 'Printmaking in the service of botany' catalogue (Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, 1986, item 25) noted that Redouté 'For the interest of connoisseurs' included `a set of black plates as a parallel series to the usual color-printed versions' in 'special issues' of both the present work and his earlier 'Les Liliacées'. The number of these special issues that were produced is unfortunately not recorded but to judge from auction records over the past 25 years they are extremely rare. Only five complete sets of 'Les Roses' in this format are recorded.

The plates of 'Les Roses' were executed by means of stipple engraving, a method ideally suited to render the nuances of tone to be found in Redouté's original watercolors. During a trip to London, where he met the renowned and talented engraver Francesco Bartolozzi, Redouté learned that the most successful impressions of stipple engravings came from well-used plates. A number of black plates would thus be struck to take the edge off the plate before printing in colors. Redouté's printers struck black impressions - always on a paper with a distinct ochre tint - from the plates for both 'Les Roses' and 'Les Liliacées'. 'Les Roses' was issued in thirty parts between March 1817 and March 1824, with each part containing six plates. 'Les Roses' was available in four formats: a large paper folio with colored plates, a large paper folio with the plates in two states, folio with colored plates, and folio with the plates in two states. The present plate comes from this last format.

This plate was printed in black on an ochre-tinted paper. The ochre tint was subsequently removed and the print was expertly hand-colored to match the style and quality of the original colored examples.

Cf. Cleveland Collections 807; cf. Dunthorne p 232; cf. Hunt Redoutéana 19; cf. Hunt, Printmaking in the Service of Botany 25; cf. Nissen BBI 1599; cf. Pritzel 7455; cf. Ray French 89; cf. Stafleu and Cowan TL2 8748

Condition / Notes:

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