The Book of Flowers

Meet “the Raphael of flowers,” Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Adapted from our best-selling XL edition, this book gathers some of the finest engravings from his masterful volumes Roses, Lilies, and Selection of the Most Beautiful Blooms and Branches with the Finest Fruits. The dazzling images transport us back to the magnificent greenhouses and gardens of a bygone Paris.

Flower painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) devoted himself exclusively to capturing the diversity of flowering plants in watercolor paintings which were then published as copper engravings, with careful botanical descriptions. The darling of wealthy Parisian patrons including Napoleon’s wife Josephine, he was dubbed “the Raphael of flowers,” and is regarded to this day as a master of botanical illustration.