Pierre Joseph Redoute

About Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840) was born in Saint-Hubert, in what is now Belgium, and made his career in Paris. He worked as botanical draughtsman to Marie Antoinette, survived the Revolution, then became official flower painter to Empress Joséphine at Malmaison. Les Roses and Les Liliacées are his best-known books. Redouté worked in watercolour on vellum, and the plates were printed by stipple engraving, a method that lays tone in fine dots rather than lines. The result has the softness of watercolour, and every stamen is still botanically correct. Botanists trusted him. Gardeners still use his plates to identify old rose varieties.

The Redouté Collection at BestOfBharat

The range covers the roses first: damask, centifolia and the Italian Damask Rose from Les Roses. Beyond them sit the lily plates: canna lily, bird of paradise and lily of the Nile. Hydrangea, lilac, laburnum and studies of trees and shrubs follow. Some sheets are single specimens on plain ground. Others are fuller arrangements. Colour runs pink, cream, soft green and warm brown.

Redouté in Your Space

Botanical plates hang well in sets. Three or four in matching frames above a console table reads as considered rather than busy. The pale grounds suit bedrooms, dressing rooms and dining walls painted in chalky neutrals. A single large rose plate above a bed does the work of a headboard. In a study, pair the tree and shrub studies with dark wood and brass.

Every artwork here is an archival print, hand-framed to order and delivered ready to hang — made in India.