Jakob Trew

Dr. Jacob Trew was a Nuremberg physician who collaborated with the young German artist Georg Dionysius Ehret to produce a number of botanical publications. As a physician, Trew’s botanical knowledge was considerable because the study of botany and medicine overlapped significantly at this time. Meanwhile, Ehret was the artistic force behind their projects, and looked to Trew for guidance and direction. The fruitful collaboration of the two men resulted in a number of historic botanical folios including Plantae Selectae (1750 – 1773). This folio was an isolated phenomenon among 18th-century botanical illustrations in that it appealed to both artistic and scientific communities because of its astounding beauty and botanical accuracy, causing French naturalist Bernard de Jussieu to commend Trew by exclaiming; “The coloured drawings of plants which you have published surpass in beauty and exactitude everything that has appeared in this genre till now” (Bernard de Jussieu 1754).