Watercolour

Physical description

Two sided sheet. Botanical illustration of a Mulberry branch with leaves and berries on one side. A whole orange, a halved orange, a whole lemon, and a halved lemon on the other side.

Date

ca. 1575 (painted)

Artist/maker

Le Moyne de Morgues, Jacques, born 1533 - died 1588 (painter)

Materials and Techniques

Water-colour and body-colours

Marks and inscriptions

'39'

Dimensions

Height: 10.75 in, Width: 7.50 in

Object history note

The drawings from this series were acquired in 1856 as one of the first purchases of the V&A, almost by accident, and solely because they were bound up in an extremely fine French late-16th-century brown calf binding.

Historical significance: This series of watercolours by Le Moyne are outstanding botanical illustrations, remarkable for their directness and truth to nature.

Descriptive line

A Mulberry branch with leaves and berries/A whole orange, a halved orange, a whole lemon, and a halved lemon, a sheet from a series of drawings of English flowers, fruits, etc., Jacques Le Moyne des Morgues, ca. 1575

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Lambert, Susan. Drawing: Technique & Purpose. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1981. p.66.
The full text of the entry is as follows:
'Drawing for utility
[…]

RECORD AND PATTERN
DRAWINGS
[…]
200. Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues
(c. 1533-1588); French, worked in Britain
from c. 1580
Lemon and Seville orange fruits (citrus limon
and citrus aurantium). On the back, a
mulberry (morus nigra)
Numbered in ink 39
Water- and body-colour. 22.2 x 16.8 cm
VAM A.M.3267.W-1856
The drawing is one of a series of 57 fruit and
flower drawings by Le Moyne, identified in
1922 and extracted from an album which had
been bought by the Museum Library in 1856
for the importance of its 16th century French
binding. The evidence on other sheets of the
watermark (which is close to Briquet 12826,
found on paper in use in France, 1556-1568)
and of titles inscribed in French as well as
Latin, possibly by the artist, could point to the
fact that the drawings were made before Le
Moyne left France for England; most probably
they were made about 1568, shortly after his
return to France from Laudonnière’s ex-
pedition to Florida, on which expedition he
had been employed as recording artist. Le
Moyne combined intensity of vision with an
ability to express form, colour and texture
with microscopic exactness. Botanical illus-
trations like these met the demand of educated
men who were inquisitive about the natural
world and anxious to examine it in detail.
(British Museum, P. H. Hulton, The work of
Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues: a Huguenot
artist working in France, Florida and England,
1977, I, pp. 155-162, II, pl. 28b).’
Paul Hulton, The Work of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, A Huguenot Artist in France, Florida and England, vol. I, London, 1977, p. 160 The following is the full text of the entry: 22. Recto. Lemon and Orange Fruits Plate 28b Above, Lemon, Citrus limon (L.) Burman f. The skin of the whole fruit is greenish yellow, the flesh of the halved fruit whitish yellow, the skin gold. Below, Seville Orange, Citrus aurantium L. The skin is gold with rather red shading, the flesh pale brownish yellow. Watercolours and bodycolours; 274 x 186 mm; 10 ¾ x 7 ¼ in. Numbered 39. AM.3267W-1856 LITERATURE: Savage (1922), (1923). Verso. Mulberry Plate 28c Mulberry, Morus nigra, L. The upper two fruits are pale red, the lower two purplish red, touched with white. Watercolours and bodycolours. Numbered 40. LITERATURE: Savage (1923).
Spencer Savage, ‘The discovery of some of Jacques Le Moyne’s botanical drawings’ in The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3rd s., vol. LXXI (1922)
Spencer Savage, ‘Early botanical painters. No. 3. – Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues’ in The Gardeners’ Chronicle, 3rd s., vol. LXXIII (1923)

Materials

Gouache; Water-colour

Subjects depicted

Fruit

Collection code

PDP