Tulipa gesneriana (Didier's Tulip) 1815
anonymous
minneapolisinstituteofart
drawing, watercolor
drawing
natural world styling
egg art
possibly oil pastel
watercolor
fluid art
botanical photography
food art
animal drawing portrait
watercolour illustration
botanical art
watercolor
This anonymous watercolor from 1815, titled "Tulipa gesneriana (Didier's Tulip)," depicts two purple and white striped tulips in a naturalistic style. The delicate details and accurate representation of the flowers point to the artist's expertise in botanical illustration, a popular genre during the 18th and 19th centuries. The artwork is currently housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Comments
Botanical illustrators working in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries devoted themselves to the medicinal qualities of plants and sought to render plant structure and function as precisely as they could. Later, European explorers brought specimens back from exotic locales, and artists carefully reproduced them for an audience fascinated by new discoveries. By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, artists had shifted their emphasis from scientific illustration to the innate beauty of the plant or flower. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is fortunate to possess an impressive collection of more than 2,000 botanical prints and drawings.
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