Schrenck's Tulip

By Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Step back into the era when botany was a flourishing art through this rare print of Schrenck's Tulip (Tulipa Suaveolens/Tulipe Odorante), originally painted by the renowned “Raphael of Flowers” himself, Pierre-Joseph Redouté.

Commissioned from 1802-1816 by the prestigious sponsorship of Empress Josephine Bonaparte for her gardens at Malmaison, this extraordinary lithograph from Les Liliacées presents the unbridled beauty of one of the oldest plants known to man. As one of the wild progenitors of the contemporary garden variety of tulips, this particular Eurasian species exhibits petals of vibrant crimson arranged in sharp, cup-like structures surrounded by the pale halo of their sunny-yellow margins. With his exceptional stipple engraving method, Redouté captures each delicate fold of the glaucous blue-green foliage of the plant as well as the organic texture of the singular bulb.