Besler Pl. 157, White snapdragon, Red snapdragon, Death’s-head | By Oppenheimer Editions

This Oppenheimer Editions print of Besler Pl. 157, White snapdragon, Red snapdragon, Death’s-head captures the vibrant color and delicate detail of Besler’s original engraving.

Printed using state-of-the-art technology with archival pigment on watercolor paper, this fine art facsimile can be enjoyed for generations to come. Like a breath of fresh air, this vivacious and engaging botanical is sure to inspire any environment!

About Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis

First published in 1613 by Nuremberg apothecary Basilius Besler, the monumental florilegium Hortus Eystettensis artistically records the flowering contents of the Garden of Eichstätt. Cultivated by Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen at his Bavarian residence, this garden boasted local and exotic flora from all over the known world. Besler’s folio constitutes 367 exquisitely engraved and lavishly colored plates that capture over 1,000 plant varietals cultivated in the garden. Rendered on large sheets of 22 ½ x 18 inch paper, Besler’s engravings emphasize the ornate qualities of the plants as he traces their progression throughout the seasonal calendar. The first edition of Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis can be distinguished from the Deluxe through the calligraphic text on the verso and no watermark in the paper.

The Oppenheimer Editions publication of Hortus Eystettensis makes available the Deluxe Edition of Basilius Besler’s florilegium as fine art prints in a limited edition of 300. Precisely capturing the color, linework, and platemark of Besler’s original engravings, the Oppenheimer Editions prints are nearly indistinguishable from the originals.

About Basilius Besler

Basilius Besler was a Nuremberg apothecary who created one of the first great botanical folios, Hortus Eystettensis (Garden of Eichstätt), in 1613. Working at a time when botanical illustrations were used primarily to identify plants for medicinal purposes, Besler created a monumental florilegium that prioritized the beauty of the plants over their pharmacological usefulness. As a result, Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis acts as a transitional fulcrum in the history of botanical art between the association of plants as medicine to plants as objects of beauty.

About Oppenheimer Editions

Established in 1999, our publishing company Oppenheimer Editions was developed in order to produce modern facsimiles of historic works of art. Marrying cutting-edge digital printing technologies with canonical works of art, Oppenheimer Editions has partnered with prestigious museums to make their holdings accessible to the public as fine art prints. Works from the New-York Historical Society’s unrivaled collections of John James Audubon’s watercolors and the Hudson River School paintings are examples of art that otherwise would be unobtainable.

Among the institutional collections we have partnered with are the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Our Oppenheimer Editions prints are not mere reproductions. Rather, they are limited-edition fine art prints made with the finest quality archival pigments on rag watercolor paper and executed to exacting standards.

For more information about Besler Pl. 157, White snapdragon, Red snapdragon, Death’s-head, email us at [email protected] or check out our articles Basilius Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis or Garden of Eichstätt and How to Distinguish Between the Various Editions of Besler’s ‘Garden of Eichstätt’.

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