Gloriosa Superba
The climbing lily, in the hand of the man who painted for empresses.
- Work
- Gloriosa Superba (Climbing Lily)
- Artist / naturalist
- Pierre-Joseph Redouté
- Origin & date
- France, early 19th century
- Held by
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and keep.
Size
$19.00
The story
Pierre-Joseph Redouté was court botanical artist to Queen Marie Antoinette and, later, official flower painter to Empress Joséphine at Malmaison — the most celebrated botanical illustrator of his age. Here his stipple-engraving technique renders Gloriosa superba, the climbing lily, with the anatomical precision of a scientific record and the grace of a portrait: each recurved, flame-colored petal separately observed, the tendrilled leaf-tips caught mid-reach. Redouté worked from live specimens in the royal and imperial gardens, cross-referencing each plate against the emerging Linnaean system his botanist collaborators were codifying. What to notice: the plate is unsigned by color alone — his ink comes from dozens of separately inked and wiped copper plates, a technique he helped pioneer. It is less a flower than a record of looking closely enough to love something.
About this reproduction
- Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s open-access release.
- Printed to order on 200gsm EMA matte art paper: smooth, no glare.
- Color-managed to the source scan.
- Ships in 5–8 business days; satisfaction guarantee.
