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From the work :
Florilegium Amplissimum et Selectissimum
In the early 17th Century, Emanuel
Sweert was Praefectus of the gardens of Emperor Rudolph II. As a Nurseryman,
Sweert presented his plants at the Frankfurt Fair. This plate, produced during
the Tulipmania Period, as small brown bulbs and corms were responsible for
crashing worldwide commodities markets, was in essence, a portion of his
catalogue representing what was to bloom inside the small bulbs offered for sale
at mid-Winter Flower Fairs.
Measures on plate border 34 by 22 cm in a full early laid paper sheet with full
margins.
Very good impressions with nice plate tone.
Author: Emanuel Sweert
These fine botanical engravings comes from Emanuel Sweert's work Florilegium Amplissimum et Selectissimum, this edition published in 1631. Sweert was a Dutch artist as well as a floriculturist. His combination of professions made him well-known among naturalists and botanists of the time. "[In the dedication] Sweert states that it was Rudolf II [Emperor of Hapsburg] who encouraged him to depict the more rare and unusual flowers in his collection and to have them etched in copper..." (An Oak Spring Flora, p.43). The first few editions were actually a catalog to assist in selling the rare plants that people could then purchase from his shop. Later editions, from which these plates come, were published as true florilegia for both scientists and experts in the culture of such fine specimens.
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