Asparagus

Asparagus TURPIN (Pierre-Jean François) and PANCKOUCKE (Ernestine) Etching, circa 1820 Published by Panckoucke, Paris Sheet dimensions: 19.5 x 12 cm Subject dimensions: 15.7 x 8.8 cm Plate No. 45 presenting asparagus, appearing in the botanical treatise and repertoire of plant iconography, "La Flore médicale." It contains the description of more than 350 medicinal plants and information on their virtues and medical uses. It is one of the most important herbals of the early 19th century, printed in colors. "La Flore médicale" is the flora of the Dictionary of Medical Sciences, a work in sixty volumes, published from 1812 to 1822 by the same publisher, Charles-Louis-Fleury Joseph Panckoucke. Very good condition, contemporary coloring. Ernestine Panckoucke (1784-1860), wife of the publisher of the Flora, was a student of the great flower painter Gérard Van Spaendonck and especially of Pierre-Joseph Redouté. A flower painter with a preference for watercolor, she exercises her talent here in botanical drawing. However, almost all of the illustrations are by Pierre-Jean-François Turpin (1775-1840), a botanist and remarkable draftsman responsible for numerous botanical illustrations, including those of a Parisian Flora.