Daffodils and red admiral butterfly; Violets and red admiral butterfly

Rendered in transparent watercolour on paper, the work displays fine, linear brushwork and delicate washes that convey the translucency of petals and the iridescence of the butterfly’s wings. The precise detailing reflects the emerging scientific approach to plant illustration of the period.

Attributed to the Huguenot artist Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (1533–1588), the sheet dates to around 1575. Le Moyne, originally from France, spent much of his career in England, where he produced designs for woodcuts as well as these rare watercolours, which resurfaced in scholarly attention in the early twentieth century.

The series belongs to an early phase of botanical documentation that combined artistic skill with emerging botanical interest in Renaissance England. Le Moyne’s work predates the more systematic herbals of the seventeenth century, offering insight into the visual language of plant study at the time.

Although long regarded primarily as a woodcut designer, the rediscovery of Le Moyne’s watercolours has secured his reputation as a pioneering figure in botanical illustration, influencing later naturalists and artists who sought accurate yet aesthetically refined plant representations.