1812
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Pomona Britannica: No. 72 - Amicua (Melon) is a 1812 by George Brookshaw, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A ripe melon sits on a plain wooden table, sliced open to show its juicy orange flesh and seeds. The fruit is so big it spills off the page. Brookshaw made this print for a book that taught rich landowners how to name and grow every kind of fruit. He worked from real melons in royal gardens, so the details—even the tiny veins on the rind—are exact. If you like this careful, lifelike style, look up the technique called *sfumato*.
This color aquatint etching is one plate from George Brookshaw’s 1812 illustrated volume Pomona Britannica . Named after the Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards, Brookshaw intended the volume to be the English “country gentleman’s” guide to the science of classifying and identifying fruits (pomology). Many of Brookshaw’s models came from the Royal Gardens at Hampton Court and Kensington Gardens. Each print featured one fruit, often life-size, including detailed depictions of its flower and leaves. Printed in color with hand-painted highlights, this and other illustrated…
Originally from North Africa, melons are recorded in England as early as the 1500s.
Read the full account in the museum source.
George Brookshaw (c. 1751–1823), also known as G. Brown, was an English painter and illustrator from London. His early career was spent as a London cabinet-maker specializing in painted furniture, often with floral…
See the richer artist page
![The Botanical Magazine or Flower Garden Displayed: Plate 892, Althaea Flexuosa. Seringapatam A Hollyhock . [Althea rosea]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/4abb4a5b7cb4bcd5/thumb.webp)
