Cleveland Museum of Art

Plantae et Papiliones rariores: Martynia

Georg Dionysius Ehret

Date

1748

Medium

engraving, hand-colored

Culture

Germany, 18th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Georg Ehret met Carolus Linnaeus in 1736. The dominant botanical artist in the mid-18th century, Ehret settled in England where the nobility clamored to receive his instruction. He commented in his autobiography, “If I could have divided myself into twenty parts I could still have had my hands full.” Ehret struck a fine compromise between the artist and the scientist. “While he did not slavishly imitate what he saw, neither did he allow his feeling for the color and design of flowers distract him from the fundamentals of plant structure,” confirms Wilfrid Blunt, author of The Art of Botanical Illustration. Ehret’s crisp forms betray a sureness of touch, vigor of handling, and unerring instinct for design.

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