The Redouté brothers: Masters of scientific illustration in Paris

Description:

This work provides the first comprehensive biography of the three Redouté brothers, Antoine-Ferdinand, Pierre-Joseph and Henri-Joseph. Originating from humble origins in the Ardennes, they all took root in Paris where Antoine-Ferdinand became a decorative painter. By contrast, Pierre-Joseph and Henri-Joseph embarked as botanical illustrators on a scientific and aesthetic career including numerous contributions to the prestigious royal paintings on vellum. The central figure of this work is Pierre-Joseph, whose accurate illustrations document science during the late phase of the Enlightenment, throughout the turbulences of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic era and into the Restoration. Thus, Pierre-Joseph provided works for Empress Josephine and Queen Maria Amalia. An indefatigable worker, he produced an enormous number of botanical illustrations, many of a very high calibre. A large number of which were reproduced as engravings for a long list of publications which multiplied by many times the effect of his work. His association with the new Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, but also notably with C.-L. L’Héritier and the Geneva botanist A. P. de Candolle, ensured successive commissions. Henri-Joseph joined the scientific team that accompanied Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, documenting plants, animals and artefacts. Although his output was more geared towards paintings of animals, he was frequently asked to contribute botanical works for Pierre-Joseph. In essence, the focus of this book is not on the written record but on the pictorial. Furthermore, it offers a panorama of the travellers, collectors, scientists, gardeners and illustrators in one of the great centres of the time - Paris.