EHRET, Georg Dionysius (1708-1770)

Opuntia, Folio Oblongo Media Tourn [Prickly Pear Cactus]

London: c. 1760. Folio. (21 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches). Gouache, watercolor, and graphite on thick laid paper with a fleur-de-lis and crown watermark. Captioned and signed, "G. D. Ehret. P." Verso blank.

A superb prickly pear watercolor by the master botanical artist Georg Dionysius Ehret.

Ehret was the dominant influence in botanical art during the middle of the eighteenth-century. His greatest merit is that he succeeded in a manner few other botanical artists have, in being at once both botanist and artist. [Great Flower Books] Rightly, his work is highly prized both for its botanical accuracy and aesthetic appeal. His career as a botanical artist began while working as a gardener for the Margrave of Baden Durlach at Karlsruhe. Ehret assisted the botanical watercolorist August Wilhelm Sievert (1705-1751) in preparing his paints. This inspired Ehret to execute his own plant portraits which he presented to his employer. Ehret decided to pursue his talent for botanical painting and in 1733 he arrived in Nuremberg where he met Dr. Christoph Jakob Trew (1695-1769), who was to become his lifelong friend and most influential patron. In 1736, he settled in England, remaining there for the rest of this life as a botanical artist and drawing master. His reputation was cemented by the publication of various flower books based on his drawings. Dr. Trew's Plantae Selectae, and Hortus Nitidissimus are the two florilegia for which he is best remembered. However, Calmann maintains that his original drawings "were the true expression of his genius." Among his English patrons were John Fothergill, Dr. Richard Mead, Taylor White, Robert More, Ralph Willett, Lord Fairhaven, the Earl of Derby, and Joseph Banks. The genus Ehretia was named in his honor.

Calmann, Ehret: Flower Painter Extraordinary, p. 99. Great Flower Books, p. 331 (refers).

Item #41489

Price: $17,500.00