Description
Redouté's Les Roses, Octavo Edition
These marvelous stipple engravings, featuring roses at the height of their beauty, come from the famous work entitled Les Roses by Pierre Joseph Redoute published in Paris. The work featured here is from the re-issue of the second octavo edition and is known as the most comprehensive edition of Les Roses. It included an imprint of St. Petersburg, where the publishers of the work were from, and 23 additional plates along with further text and images. Les Roses was produced in conjunction with Claude-Antoine Thory, a devoted botanist and rose collector.
Redoute's name is synonymous with beauty and in the world of botanical art he is known as the best. The work proved to be not only outstanding in terms of its beauty but also for its scientific merits. Redoute and Thory described almost all of the important roses that were known in their time. Redoute was renowned for his artistic ability and tutored such people as Queen Marie-Antoinette, Empress Josephine, Marie-Louise, and Queen Marie-Amelie. His fame is due in large part to his diligent effort to perfect the use of stipple engraving. This labor intensive, and therefore expensive, technique creates subtle yet stunning variations of color making it superior to the engraving alone. The prints are on fine woven paper measuring 6" by 9".