| Pierre-Joseph Redouté Gallery |
| Les Liliacees | |||
| Les Liliacées was Redouté's largest and most ambitious work and is generally considered his masterpiece, arguably rivaled only by Les Roses. Produced under the patronage of the Empress Josephine, for whom Redouté worked as botanical artist at her estate at Malmaison, these pristine examples represent landmark works in the field of flower illustration. Les Liliacées records the plants of the lily family and related flowers (including representatives of the amaryllis, iris, and orchid families), that Josephine collected for her gardens at Malmaison. Redouté's small drawings, placed at the bottom of the main illustrations, record the anatomical features of each species so that each flower could be identified with precision and cultivated to perfection. In each illustration, as in his series Les Roses, the flowers are classical 'portraits' which lack backgrounds or settings. The regal simplicity of the compositions allows the viewer to focus without distraction on the beauty and delicate complexity of the plants themselves. Redoutés's work represents a uniquely harmonious blend of scientific precision and supremely delicate rendering. | |||
| Publication City: Paris Medium: Stipple engravings with original hand color Dimensions: 14 x 21 inches Date: 1802-1816 | |||
| SELECTIONS FROM THIS WORK | |||
 Alstroemeria ligtu (Ligtu Incan Lily) details |  Amaryllis a feuilles recourbees (Guernsey Lily) details |  Amaryllis doree (Golden Hurricane Lily) details |  Ananas sauvage (Pinguin-Bromelia) details |  Bananier a fleurs ecarlates (Erect Native Banana) details |  Bermudienne striee (Streaked-flowered Sisyrinchium) details |  Colchique d'automne (Common Naked Ladies) details |  Crinum d'Amerique (Blush-colored Crinum) details |  Cyrtanthe oblique (Soldier Lily) details |  Fritillaire de Perse (Persian Fritillary) details |  Glaieul a fleurs droites (Straight-flowered Watsonia) details |  Globbee pendante (Shell Ginger, Pink Porcelain Lily) details |  Hemerocalle du Japon (Plantain Lily) details |  Iris a fleurs jaunes (Plae Iris) details |  Iris de Lemonnier (Lemonnier's Iris) details |  Iris plisse (Pleated Iris) details |  Lachenale pendante (Bulb-bearing Lachenalia) details |  Lachenale tricolor (Cape Cowslip) details |  Limodore de Tankervill (Brown of Lady Tankerville) details |  Lis a fleurs pendantes (Meadow Lily) details |  Lis blanc (Madonna Lily) details |  Lis de Chine, Lis du tigre (Tiger Lily, Devil Lily) details |  Moree a longue gaine (North's Neomarica) details |  Narcisse a plusieurs fleurs (Angel's Tears) details |  Narcisse faux-narcisse (Lent Lily, Wild Daffodil) details |  Sabot des Alpes (Larger Yellow Ladyslipper) details |  Veltheimia d'Abyssinie (Abyssinian Kniphofia) details |  Veltheimia du Cap (Eastern Cape Veltheimia) details |
