The Golden Age of Flowers: Botanical Illustration in the Age of Discovery 1600-1800

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed a surge in the study of and interest in botanicals that led to some of the greatest books of plant illustration ever made, including such outstanding examples as the Hortus Eystettensis, work by Maria Sibylla Merian, Thornton’s Temple of Flora, Banks’s Florilegium, and Sibthorp’s Flora Graeca. Culled from these masterpieces of botanical art, this lavishly illustrated new book reproduces one hundred of the most beautiful flower images from this period. As Celia Fisher explains, during this time several developments took place that led to a significant increase in the popularity and output of botanical illustration, including the revolution created by the advancement of metal engraving, the development of the new Linnaean system for classifying types of plants, and the epic voyages of discovery that recorded and collected the exotic plants encountered in remote, uncharted lands. The historical illustrations presented here are arranged in alphabetical order by flower with an accompanying text that outlines their geographic and botanical origins, the derivation of their names, and the properties for which they were most valued. This beautiful and informative book will appeal to gardeners and flower lovers as well as readers interested in the history of botany and illustration.