Cherry; Bullace (wild plum)
1568
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1568
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues painted Cherry; Bullace (wild plum) around 1560-1575. It’s a tiny watercolour study of fruit — part of a series he made to show craftspeople real plants. You’d see this kind of sharp, close-up drawing in a shop’s reference drawer. Le Moyne drew these pictures to help jewelers, embroiderers, and other makers copy nature exactly. His work traveled from France to London, and even crossed the Atlantic with Raleigh’s explorers. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum to see more of his plant studies.
