Botanical illustrations.
Follow the flowers.

A striped tulip presented on its own. Cleveland identifies the sheet as part of a grower’s tulip book: an image made to help sell a plant.

Study of a Tulip (Perregoen Machieu), c. 1645. Pieter Holsteyn II (Dutch, c.1612–1673). Point of brush and transparent and opaque watercolors with traces of graphite and gum glazing on antique laid paper; sheet: 36 x 27.3 cm (14 3/16 x 10 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift, 2020.133

Pierre-Joseph Redouté’s watercolour study of a cabbage rose. Compare it with the hand-coloured rose engraving in the printed-page section.

Cabbage Rose (Rosa Centifolia Simplex), 1817–24. Pierre-Joseph Redouté (French, 1759–1840). Watercolor. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in the name of Warren H. Corning from his wife and children, 1959.14

A lithograph of flowers by Anton Weiss. Compare the marks used to describe the petals with the engraved lines of the neighbouring botanical plates.

Diverse bloemen. 1820 - 1833. Anton Weiss. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.

A dog rose from Icones Plantarum Medicinalium. Joseph Jacob Plenck is credited as its publisher, rather than its illustrator.

Icones Plantarum Medicinalium: Dog Rose, 1788–1812. Joseph Jacob Plenck (German). Engraving, hand-colored. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Kennedy and Company, 1949.510

A pencil and watercolour study by Pancrace Bessa, dated 1836. Compare its technique with Bessa’s narcissus study and Delany’s cut-paper geranium.

(Botanical: Maurándia semperflorens), 1836. Pancrace Bessa (French, 1772–1846). Pencil and watercolor. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1949.412

Bessa places the narcissus’s bulb and leaves beside a flower cross-section. It is a view of the plant’s structure as well as its blossom.

Polyanthus or Cluster Narcissus (Botanical: Narcissus tazetta), 1836. Pancrace Bessa (French, 1772–1846). Pencil and watercolor. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1949.411

A hand-coloured engraving from The Botanical Magazine, dated 1823. Compare it with the Mountain Lake Lily plate from four years later.

The Botanical Magazine or Flower Garden Displayed: Stately Crinum, 1823. S. Curtis (British). Engraving, hand-colored. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. B. Leavelle, Stanford, Cal., in memory of her mother, Wilma Ball Morgan (Mrs. Daniel E. Morgan), 1955.147

A companion magazine plate from 1827. Keeping the caption visible preserves the identification that belongs to the image.

The Botanical Magazine or Flower Garden Displayed: The Mountain Lake Lily, 1827. S. Curtis (British). Engraving, hand-colored; platemark: 23.8 x 19.8 cm (9 3/8 x 7 13/16 in.); paper: 30 x 22.8 cm (11 13/16 x 9 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. A. B. Leavelle, Stanford, Cal., in memory of her mother, Wilma Ball Morgan (Mrs. Daniel E. Morgan), 1955.146

This geranium is made from cut paper. Mary Delany’s Botanical Study offers a close comparison with the drawn and printed plants around it.

Botanical Study. ca. 1772–82. Mary Delany. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1925. CC0.

A page from Jan Brandes’s sketchbook brings the Cape water lily’s plant, flower and seed together. The generic catalogue title conceals a much more specific study.

Kaapse bloem. 1786-07-17. Jan Brandes. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.

Leaves, buds, flower and fruit share one stem. Cramer’s album drawing lets you follow several stages of the passion flower at once.

Passievrucht (Passiflora laurifolia). 1872. Wilhelm Johannes Lancaster Cramer. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.

A mango branch with leaves, flowers and two fruits. Compare it with the passion-fruit sheet from the same 1872 album.

Mango (Mangifera indica). 1872. Wilhelm Johannes Lancaster Cramer. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.