1764. Original watercolour drawing on vellum, wash-line mount, framed and glazed, mount opening 435 x 305mm, titled and signed lower right.
An exquisite drawing of Wisteria by the most talented botanical illustrator of the 18th century; arguably of any century. In 1736 he was fortunate to meet Carl Linnaeus at the De Hartecamp Estate of George Clifford where he produced the illustrations for Linnaeus’ first book “Hortus Cliffortianus. 1738”. This marked the beginning of a new era of botanical morphology and the naming of plants using botanical Latin - and the so-called golden age of botanical illustration. He and Linnaeus remained life-long friends and his style of botanical art - still in use today - is referred to as the Linnaean style.