Walter Hood Fitch Art

Artist: James Sowerby (English, 1757-1822) Title: "Aquilegia Vulgaris (Common Columbine)" (Plate 297) Portfolio: English Botany Year: 1796 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Engraving on ...

This is an original antique colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving of flowering Red Geraniums which is finished with hand-coloring. It is entitled "Geranium Anemones folio Af...

Artist: James Sowerby (English, 1757-1822) Title: "Rosa Tomentosa (Harsh Downy-rose)" (Plate 990) Portfolio: English Botany Year: 1802 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Engraving on wove paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: J. Davis, Richard and Arthur Taylor, London, UK Publisher: James Sowerby, London, UK Reference: Henrey No. 1366-1368; Hunt No. 717; Nissen BBI No. 2225-2226; Pritzel No. 8789-8791; Stafleu and Cowan No. 12221 Framing: Recently framed in a gold gilded, fluted moulding with 100% cotton rag matting from Holland. All archival Framed size: 14.75" x 12" Image size: 7.13" x 4.25" Condition: In excellent condition Notes: Comes from Sowerby's monumental thirty-seven volume, bound in thirty-six, portfolio "English Botany" or "Coloured Figures of British Plants" (1790-1814), which consists of 2,592 hand-colored engravings. Rosa tomentosa, otherwise known as the harsh downy-rose, is a species of plant in the family Rosaceae. It is native to the British Isles, where it is commonest in Wales and west and south-east England. It typically flowers between June and July and can be found in hedgerows and woodland margins. Biography: James Sowerby (21 March 1757-25 October 1822) was an English naturalist, illustrator and mineralogist. Contributions to published works, such as A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland...

This early 19th century hand-colored double fold-out botanical engraving is entitled "Chelone Major" (Flowering Lyons' Chelone plant), plate 1864, published in London in 1816 in Will...

This early 19th century hand-colored double fold-out botanical engraving is entitled "Ornithogalum Squilla" (Common Red-rooted Sea-Onion or Officinal Squill), plate 918, published in...

This is an original antique colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving of flowering Gas Plants or Burning Bush and Fraxinella, which is finished with hand-coloring. It is entitle...

This early 19th century hand-colored double fold-out botanical engraving is entitled "Sempervivum Smithii" (Hispid-Stemmed Tree Houseleek), plate 1980, published in London in 1818 in...

Artist: James Sowerby (English, 1757-1822) Title: "Ranunculus Lingua (Greater Spearwort)" (Plate 100) Portfolio: English Botany Year: 1793 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Engraving on ...

Artist: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (French, 1707-1788) Title: "Euphorbia (Spurge)" (Dodecandrie, Trigynie, Plate 411) Portfolio: Histoire Naturelle Year: 1749-1789 Medium...

This early 19th century hand-colored stipple engraving by Augusta Innes Withers entitled "The Brabant Bellefleur Apple" was plate 10 published in London in the 'Transactions of the H...

This early 19th century hand-colored double fold-out botanical engraving is entitled "Sempervivum Glutinosum" (Clammy Houseleek), plate 1963, published in London in 1818 in William C...

Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: No.1:I; No. 2:1; II & III. MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation. Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...