Pink-Flowered Neottie

By Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Mark the high point of Golden Age botanical illustration with "Néottie à fleurs roses" (Pink-Flowered Neottie) by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. This stunning work is drawn from Redouté’s grandiose series Les Liliacées (1802-1816), commissioned by the empire, which depicts the terrestrial orchid Stenorrhynchos speciosus (Neottia Speciosa).

Created on commission by Empress Joséphine Bonaparte, this illustration beautifully portrays the elegant symmetrical form of the orchid’s strikingly beautiful pink bracts and delicately tubular flowers. Using his renowned stipple engraving method, in which he painted thousands of tiny ink dots on a single copperplate before painting by hand in watercolors, Redouté combined scientific accuracy with French romanticism into one stunning piece.