1762
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Plantae Selectae: No. 37 - Yucca is a 1762 by Georg Dionysius Ehret, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a yucca plant with long, sword-shaped leaves. The leaves are dark green with a hint of purple at the base. Tiny white dots appear on the leaves, showing fine detail. Artists like Ehret helped scientists name plants clearly. Before this, people used different names for the same plant. His pictures showed exact parts that helped Linnaeus sort them by structure. This work feels like a photo of a real plant. See more like it at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
A major problem in horticulture was the lack of a consistent system of classification. The first successful attempt to establish a common nomenclature was in 1724 when 20 London nurserymen published a list of all plants grown in their nurseries. Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae was published in 1735; it classified 7,700 plants by their botanic structure and gave them universally applicable two-part Latin names. From then on artists had to combine scientific accuracy with artistic skill. Many of Ehret’s flower portraits were copied by printmakers and published in the great…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Georg Dionysius Ehret was a German botanist and entomologist known for his botanical illustrations.
See the richer artist pageYour cart is empty
Explore artworks →
