Botanical Art

Browse our expansive selection of botanical art featuring the finest examples of flowers, plants, and fruit from the 1600’s through the 1900’s.

Our collection features many of the most celebrated botanical artists throughout history including Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Maria Sibylla Merian, Basilius Besler, Margaret Mee and many others.  Botanical art holds a special place as the earliest form of natural history art.  The cataloging of plants for medicinal purposes dates back to antiquity.  As empires expanded in early modern Europe, this collecting and cataloging impulse continued. This was done with the intention of importing, naming, and placing foreign plants within a European taxonomy. During the Victorian era, botanical art served as a modest and respectable subject matter for female artists to pursue. Today, some botanical artists use their works to visualize endangered plant ecosystems.

To Learn more about botanical prints, check out our articles The Historical Significance of Botanical Illustration, “A Genteel Diversion” – Unearthing the Complex History of Women and Botanical Art, The Historical Allure of Variegated Tulips, and many others.