Besler Pl. 81, Crown-imperial fritillary

The Oppenheimer Kew Gardens Edition of Besler Pl. 81, Crown-imperial fritillary captures the vibrance and delicacy of Besler’s original engraving in astonishing detail.

Printed using state-of-the-art technology with archival pigment on watercolor paper, this fine art facsimile can be enjoyed for generations. As part of an institution-sanctioned edition, the print is embossed with the Oppenheimer Editions and Kew Gardens logos. Like a breath of fresh air, this vibrant and engaging botanical will 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 Oppenheimer Kew Gardens Edition makes available as fine art facsimiles the 50 best and most beautiful plates from Basilius Besler’s magnificent Hortus Eystettensis. Executed with utter fidelity to the original plates housed in the library at The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, the modern prints capture the luscious color and nuanced detail of Besler’s handiwork. The Oppenheimer Kew Gardens Edition prints are available as a limited edition of 300 prints.

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. 81, Crown-imperial fritillary, 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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