Les Liliacées: Limodorum purpureum
1809
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1809
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Les Liliacées: Limodorum purpureum is a 1809 by Pierre Joseph Redouté, a Romanticism work, depicting tulipa, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a watercolor of a purple orchid called Limodorum purpureum. The petals have soft folds and faint veins you can almost feel. Tiny dewdrops cling to the edges like real morning light. Redouté painted this over many years. He worked for queens and scientists alike. The details stay crisp even centuries later. His close-up style looks a lot like Georg Dionysius Ehret’s work. See how Ehret’s 1700s plant drawings keep the same careful edges.
