Getty Museum

Spiraea

Date

1743

Medium

Gouache and graphite, on vellum

Culture

German

Department

Drawings

Institution

Getty Museum

In this very detailed portrait of the Spiraea (Meadowsweet), a plant with similar medicinal properties as aspirin, Ehret used a wide range of greens to convincingly render the overlapping leaves. The broad leafy base is contrasted to the delicate stalk with tiny white flowers. As always, Ehret paid great attention to the various stages of the plant's development. Tightly closed buds on the stalk are juxtaposed with open flowers that reveal many pink stamens. Ehret even suggested the passage of time by depicting open buds after all their petals have dropped off and only one stamen remains.

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