Choix des plus belles Fleurs - 1835 Edition - Antique Originals

First published in 1827 and subsequently in 1835, Redouté’s Choix des plus belles fleurs et des plus beaux fruits, or Choice of the most beautiful flowers and most beautiful fruits contains 144 plates depicting the most attractive botanicals he had encountered throughout his long-lasting career as a royal flower painter. Many of the plants were rendered from fruits and flowers cultivated within the French imperial gardens and other notable botanical collections. The plates are printed in color through a method called stipple engraving with the finishing touches of color applied by hand. Stipple engraving is different from line engraving in that the imagery is made up of a series of dots rather than a continuous line. As a result, the print has a soft delineation of form that is particularly well suited to the delicate subject matter.

The 1835 edition can be visually distinguished from the 1827 edition through the presence of a plate number after Redouté’s name in the bottom left margin of the print.