Pl. 23 Narcisus Matbeoli

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Original antique copper engraving, later hand colored. Fine hand colored copper engraving, published in Paris 1608 in the flower book 'Le jardin du roy tres chrestien Henry IV...' by Pierre Vallet. The series by Pierre Vallet comprises a wide variety of fine engraved flowers. Among them are highly decorative flower prints of hyacinths, irises and many other beautiful ones. These fine engravings from 'Le jardin du roy...' can be regarded as one of the most beautiful and decorative sets of large engravings of flowers ever produced in this period. Pierre Vallet (c1575 Orléans - 1657) was a French botanical artist, engraver and embroidery designer. French court patronage of botanical painting was initiated by Marie de Medicis of Florence, second wife of Henry IV of France. Under her tutelage Pierre Vallet became the French court's first botanical painter and in 1608 he published Le Jardin du tres Chrestien Henry IV. The work depicted plants from the garden of the Louvre Palace supplied with exotic curiosities by French explorers returning from West Africa and Spain. Vallet also illustrated Jacques-Philippe Cornut's Canadensium plantarum published in 1635, and Les Adventures Amoureuse de Theagenes et Chariclée Sommairement Discrète et Representee par Figures (Gabriel Tavernier, Paris, 1613),[4] the hero and heroine of an erotic 4th century romance in Greek by Heliodorus, Bishop of Trikka. (Wikipedia)