THE GREAT GARDEN
The Florilegium
The great garden books — Besler’s Eichstätt, the Dutch golden-age flower books, whole gardens preserved on paper.
1613 (1713 edition)
The Large Sunflower
Flos Solis Maior, from the first great garden book ever printed.
Helianthus annuus
1614
Star of Bethlehem
Two ornithogalums and a hoverfly, engraved at eye level with the soil.
Ornithogalum
1737–1745
A Weinmann Plate
Early colour-printing, luminous and strange.
1613
The Great Sunflower
From the Hortus Eystettensis — a whole prince-bishop’s garden, printed on the largest paper in Europe.
Helianthus annuus
1613
The Marsh Marigold
The first flower of the Eichstätt spring — plain, wet-ground gold.
Caltha palustris
1797–1804
The Shrubby St John’s Wort
From the imperial garden at Schönbrunn, drawn under an emperor’s patronage.
Hypericum prolificum
1797–1804
The Cape Weed
A daisy from the Cape, and one of the great botanical travellers.
Arctotheca calendula
1797–1804
The Ox-Tongue
A rough-leaved yellow daisy, drawn with imperial resources.
Picris rhagadioloides
1797–1804
The African Wormwood
A silver-grey medicinal shrub of the southern African highlands.
Artemisia afra
1797–1804
The African Daisy
A Cape daisy that closes at night and opens with the sun.
Arctotis micrantha