Snake's Head Fritillary
Drawing
probably ca. 1750-1773 (painted)
probably ca. 1750-1773 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Eisenberger was a painter and engraver who worked in the German city of Nuremberg. He seems to have specialised in botanical subjects. Eisenberger follows botanical convention by including a dissection of the flower. As the inscription suggests ('ad viv. fec.'), it was drawn from life. This drawing is livelier than illustrations intended for scientific publications.
An engraving of this drawing appeared on plate 25 in the first volume of Hortus Nitidissimis (published 1750-68) , for which Christoph Trew commissioned some of the drawings from local illustrators. This was not a scientific work; its subtitle translates as 'The flower-garden in finest bloom throughout the year, or pictures of the most beautiful flowers’.
Celebrated in one sixteenth century book for ‘beautifieing... our gardens, and the bosoms of the beautifull’, the Snake’s Head Fritillary has been a favourite of botanical illustrators and, though it had no medicinal use, it even appeared in herbals.
An engraving of this drawing appeared on plate 25 in the first volume of Hortus Nitidissimis (published 1750-68) , for which Christoph Trew commissioned some of the drawings from local illustrators. This was not a scientific work; its subtitle translates as 'The flower-garden in finest bloom throughout the year, or pictures of the most beautiful flowers’.
Celebrated in one sixteenth century book for ‘beautifieing... our gardens, and the bosoms of the beautifull’, the Snake’s Head Fritillary has been a favourite of botanical illustrators and, though it had no medicinal use, it even appeared in herbals.
Object details
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| Materials and techniques | Watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Botanical study, watercolour depicting Snake's Head Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris, by Nikolaus-Friedrich Eisenberger, probably ca. 1750-1773; German. |
| Physical description | Botanical study showing bulb, stems and two flower heads. To the left is another flower head, separately drawn. |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Historical context | Eisenberger also produced 170 plates for the revised and expanded version of Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal, which was first published in 1737. Dr C. J. Trew published the revised edition in Nuremberg between 1754 and 1773. He called it Herbarium Blackwellianum. Blackwell's original illustrations were adequate but rather naive and awkward, so Trew asked Eisenberger to make better ones. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Eisenberger was a painter and engraver who worked in the German city of Nuremberg. He seems to have specialised in botanical subjects. Eisenberger follows botanical convention by including a dissection of the flower. As the inscription suggests ('ad viv. fec.'), it was drawn from life. This drawing is livelier than illustrations intended for scientific publications. An engraving of this drawing appeared on plate 25 in the first volume of Hortus Nitidissimis (published 1750-68) , for which Christoph Trew commissioned some of the drawings from local illustrators. This was not a scientific work; its subtitle translates as 'The flower-garden in finest bloom throughout the year, or pictures of the most beautiful flowers’. Celebrated in one sixteenth century book for ‘beautifieing... our gardens, and the bosoms of the beautifull’, the Snake’s Head Fritillary has been a favourite of botanical illustrators and, though it had no medicinal use, it even appeared in herbals. |
| Bibliographic reference | Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, Accessions 1911, London, Printed for His Majesty’s Stationery Office 1912 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.4107-1911 |
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| Record created | January 8, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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