'Pierre-Joseph Redouté' (
July 10,
1759 -
June 20,
1840), was a
French painter and
botanist, known for his paintings of the
flowers at
Malmaison. Redouté was born in
Saint-Hubert, Luxembourg, which is now part of
Belgium. He was the official court artist of
Queen Marie Antoinette, and he continued painting through the
French Revolution and
Reign of Terror. Redouté survived the turbulent political upheaval to gain international recognition for his precise renderings of
plants which remain as fresh in the early 21st century as when first painted.
A Pierre-Joseph Redouté painting
was the
cultural and
scientific center of
Europe during an outstanding period (1798 - 1837) in the illustration of
plants, one noted for the publication of several folio books with colored plates. Redouté contributed over 2100 published plates depicting over 1800 different
species, many never rendered before.
Although he was relatively uneducated, both Redouté's father and grandfather were painters. He left home at the age of 13 to earn his living as an itinerant Belgian painter, doing interior decoration, portraits and religious commissions. Becoming acquainted with the work of
Flemish and
Dutch flower painters
Brueghel,
Ruysch,
van Huysum and
de Heem, Redouté determined to become an heir to their tradition.
Paris
In 1782 Redouté joined his elder brother, Antoine Ferdinand, an interior decorator and scenery designer in Paris. Cheveau, a Parisian dealer, brought the young artist to the attention of the botanical artist Gerard van Spaendonck at the
Jardin du Roi, which became the Jardin des Plantes of the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle after the French Revolution. There he met the botanist and book lover
Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle. van Spaendonck became Redouté's teacher, L'Heritier his patron
[1] who taught him to dissect flowers and portray their diagnostic characteristics. L'Heritier also introduced Redouté to members of the court of Versailles. In 1786 Redouté began work at the
Museum d'Histoire Naturelle cataloging the collections of flora and fauna and participating in botanical expeditions, notably Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition
[2].
The standard botanical author abbreviation 'Redouté' is applied to plants described by this botanist[3].
Over his long career, Redouté painted the gardens at the
Petite Trianon of
Marie Antoinette as her official court artist. During the revolution and Reign of Terror, he was appointed to document gardens which became national property. However, during the patronage of the generous
Empress Josephine, Redouté's career flourished and he produced his most sumptuous books portraying plants from places as distant as Japan, South Africa and Australia as well as Europe and America.
After Josephine's death, Redouté's fortunes fell until he was appointed as a master of design for the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in 1822. He became a Chevalier of the
Légion d'honneur in 1825. Although particularly renowned for his botanical exploration of roses and
lilies, he thereafter produced paintings purely for aesthetic value including those of the celebrated "Choix des plus belles Fleurs"
[4].
Works
★ ''Geraniologia,'' typis Petri-Francisci Didot 1787-8;
On line.
★ ''Les Liliacées,'' 8 vols. (1802); Taschen America (2000) ISBN 3822864072 ;
SCD, Universities of Strasbourg. (1802-1816) On line.
★ ''Les Roses,'' 3 vols. (1817-1824); French & European Pubns (1954) ISBN 0320059049 ; Pierre-Joseph Redoute, Sandra Raphael (Narrator}, Ian Jackson (Translator), CD-ROM Octavo (2002) ISBN 1891788280
★ ''Plantes grasses,'' 2 vols., with Augustin Pyramus Candolle, frères Levrault (1790);
SCD, Universities of Strasbourg. On line.
★ ''Choix Des Plus Belles Fleurs,'' Paris, privately printed, 1827–1833; Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Sandra Raphael (Narrator), Ian Jackson (Translator), CD-ROM, California Academy of Sciences / Octavo (2004) ISBN 1591100534
References
1. Stanley Johnston, "Gerard von Spaendonck and Pierre Joseph Redouté", The Holden Arboretum. On line.
2. "Redoute, Pierre-Joseph", SCD, Universities of Strasbourg.
3. International Plant Names Index
4. Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Sandra Raphael (Narrator), Ian Jackson (Translator)''Choix Des Plus Belles Fleurs,'' Paris, privately printed, 1827–1833; on CD, California Academy of Sciences / Octavo (2004) ISBN 1591100534
Literature
★ Wilfrid Blunt and William T. Stearn, "The Age of Redouté", ''The Art of Botanical Illustration,'' pp. 173-183. London, Collins (1950) ISBN 0486272656
★ Alain Dierkens, Andre Lawalree, and Jean-Marie Duvosquel, ''Pierre-Joseph Redoute, 1759-1840: La Famille, L'uvre,'' Centre Pierre-Joseph Redoute (Saint-Hubert, Belgium) (1996) ISBN 2871932387
External links
★
"Pierre Joseph Redouté" biography at globalgallery.com.
★
"Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1759-1840", ''From Seed to Flower: Selected Books from the Cornelius J. Hauck Botanical Collection,'' Cincinnati Museum.
Centre Redouté
Centre Pierre-Joseph Redouté
Rue Redouté 11
6870 SAINT-HUBERT, BELGIQUE
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