Watercolour

Physical description

Botanical illustration of a single globe artichoke on a stalk

Date

ca. 1575 (painted)

Artist/maker

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

Materials and Techniques

water-colour and body-colours

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 single globe artichoke on a stalk, 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)

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: 20. Globe Artichoke Plate 27c Globe Artichoke, Cynara scolymus L. The head in bud is deep green, heavily shaded, and each ‘scale’ or involucral bract is tipped with brown and white at the base. Watercolours and bodycolours; 264 x 177 mm (sight); 10 ⅜ x 6 ⅞ in. Numbered 36. AM.3267U-1856 LITERATURE: Savage (1922), (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

Plants

Collection code

PDP