Introducing Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770) - Botanical Artist
​

Georg Dionysius Ehret is one of the most influential botanical artists of all time due to his development of the Linnaean style of botanical illustration.

He was also a prodigious artist who produced an enormous number of high quality illustrations for various botanical publications and plant collectors.

He was a German-born artist who initially worked as a journeyman-gardener. He spent his early career travelling and working across Europe prior to working closely with Carl Linnaeus at the time the latter was developing his system of binomial nomenclature - and illustrated his findings.

In 1736, he moved to England and became much sought after by premier botanists and collectors to record their rare plants.

By 1750 he was the leading botanical artist in Europe.

This page provides:

• Biography - biographical details of his life and career development
• His drawings, paintings and engravings - a flavour of his artwork
• A commentary on his artistic practices and preferred media
• Collections - links to where you can see the original artwork. His work is now in many of the premier art collections - Natural History Museum, Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society, the Royal Collection and the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation. 
• More information - links to books and websites where you can find out more about him

Georgius Dionysius Ehret (1708–1770). This is a mixed mezzotint, stipple and line engraving, 56 × 40.5 cm, by Johann-Jakob Haid for the Plantae Selectae (Nuremburg, 1750–1773), of Christoph Jacob Trew (1695–1769). It's a faithful reproduction of a pencil and wash self-portrait (c.1750) by Ehret.

---

​About Georg Dionysius Ehret 
​

Georg Ehret was regarded as one of the best botanical artists of his day - if not the best.

One special claim to fame is that he worked early on with Carl Linnaeus at the time Linnaeus was developing his work on classification and binomial naming.

His style of botanical art - still in use today - is referred to as the Linnaean style.

George Ehret illustrated many of spectacular plants for the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

In particular, he illustrated the exotic plants, which had recently arrived in Europe and which appeared strange to English eyes.

​He was also able to access the collections of the exotic plants collected by wealthy plant enthusiasts and drew the unusual plants that grew in their hothouses

His work appeared in a variety of publications on the rare and exotic plants, most notably the Plantae Selectae (1750-73).

Ehret used sketchbooks to record his plants from life before producing larger paintings in his studio. Some of his sketchbooks have been preserved within collections and demonstrate his high level of competence and botanical knowledge.

Drawing of a Cedar Tree - from the Plantae Selectae - probably from the specimens grown in the Chelsea Physic Garden

---

A Biographical Timeline
​

Timeline: 1708 - 1733
Living and working in Germany, Austria and Switzerland - the gardener becomes a botanical artist
​

1708 (30th January) - Born in Heidelberg in Germany. His father, Ferdinand Christian Ehret has a smallholding and cultivated garden produce. He had a talent for drawing and before he died he taught young Georg to draw..  

Ehret was apprenticed to his uncle at Bessungen who was also a gardner for three years. He described it as "three years of slavery" and had little time for leisure but drew in his spare time when he could.

His father died and his mother Anna Maria Ehret subsequently remarried a man called Kesselbach who looked after the two gardens of the Elector Palatine of Heidelburg

Ehret worked as a gardner for two men with gardens and extensive collections of plants

• He and his brother were engaged as a 'journeyman-gardener' and were put in charge of one of the gardens of the Elector Palatine
• Karl Wilhelm, the Margrave of Baden-Durlach was very interested in botany. He was developing a large collection of rare plants, exotic trees and flowers in the gardens he was developing at Karlsburg Castle in Durlach (A 1713 catalog lists 2121 varieties of flowers; the tulips dominate with 1163 varieties. By  1733, almost 5,000 tulips were recorded). The Margrave also wanted his botanical garden to be documented and Ehret spent his spare time painting the Margrave's flowers, particularly his tulips and hyacinths. 

[Note: The Karlsruhe Botanical Gardens (Botanischer Garten Karlsruhe) can be visited today]

Once, a young gardener would have learnt all he needed to know under the guiding eye of an experienced head gardener, and the patronage of a garden owner who didn't need to look too closely at the wages bill. Working his way from apprentice to journeyman, a gardener learnt on the job and relied on the close-knit club of the head gardeners to find a suitable vacancy.
The Independent - article by Anna Pavord

1727: August Wilhelm Sievert arrived at the castle; he had been engaged to paint the plants. Ehret hoped to learn how to paint plants in watercolour but was only allowed to grind the colours for Sievert. However his presence and paintings stimulated Ehret to experiment and he painted portraits of tulips and hyacinths which he then presented to his employer. However the preferential treatment he received as a result created tensions with the other staff and he had to leave when their jealousy created quarrels and became intolerable. He left the employment of the Margrave - but with an invitation to return whenever he wished.

1728 - At some point between 1728 and 1733, Ehret switched permanently from being a journeyman gardener to somebody who painted plants.

He left  Karlsruhe with his brother for Vienna via Regensburg. While his brother continued to Vienna, a celebrated gardener at Regensburg introduced Georg to two individuals who wanted an artist to paint plants. He was engaged by the apothecary Johann Wilhelm Weinmann to prepare drawings for his Phytanthoza Iconagraphia but was treated very badly in Ehret's opinion. He was engaged to draw 1,000 figures of plants for 50 thaler per annum plus free bed and board in the apothecary's house. He finished 500 pieces in the first year but was told he would only get 20 thaler as he had not completed his contract - and Ehret left. (He subsequently tried to recover the money he felt he was owed).
​
Ehret went straight from Weinmann to work for a Regensburg banker called Leskenkohl who wanted an artist to paint the plants in his garden.  One of his other tasks was to colour plates c. 800 engravings from the Hortus Indicus Malabaricus - published in 12 volumes. Ehret spent 5 years on the first three volumes and received 100 thaler.  He also continued to develop his knowledge of botanical art (in the banker's collection), botanical knowledge and drew the plants native to the area.

He chose not to finish the job as he estimated it would take many years and his encounter with Dr Trew stimulated ideas about what he could be doing instead.

He developed a collection of pictures of local plants called the Herbarium Vivum Pictum.  (This is a generic term and this is Wikipedia's description of a Herbarium Vivum and ways in which people recorded plants)

​1731 - An auspicious meeting took place which changed botanical art forever. Ehret met Johann Ambrosius Beurer (1716-54), a young apprentice apothecary who was very interested in botany. Beurer took lessons in paintings plants from Ehret and the two of them studied local plants.

Subsequently Beurer corresponds with his cousin Dr Trew and mentions that he knew a young man who drew and painted plants and praises his skills as an artist.  He subsequently becomes an intermediary between Trew and Ehret.

This results in a proposal to create paintings for Dr Trew. Ehret was by this stage very clear as to the value of his work and asked for one thaler if work was regular - but made it clear that he usually charged 2-3 thaler. Given his past experienced and collection of fees we can assume that by this stage he'd learned how to be business-like!

Trew facilitated the sale of Ehret's Herbarium Vivum Pictum to Dr Widmann who agreed to pay in quarterly instalments of 50 thaler each.  

(Note: This collection is now known as Deliciae Botanicae (1732). It belonged at one point to Lord Derby but has since been acquired by Liverpool Museum)

1733 - Met the physician, scientist, botanist and scholar Dr. Christoph Trew (1695-1769) in Nuremburg (who was the German equivalent of Hans Sloane). He subsequently became both his patron and influenced his career path due to the people he knew in England.

Dr Trew was to instil in him the value of wide travel and instruct him in all the exciting developments of botany: the introduction of new species from the Near East and America, the attempt of European scholars to put order into the ever-growing material of plants. the exchange of ideas and of natural objects between scientists.
Ehret's Meeting with Dr Trew in Ehret, Flower Painter Extraordinary

1733 - In October, he got employment for a year in Basel, laying out a garden for a wealth merchant Samuel Burckhardt. The latter got him a passport (as the political situation became strained) to enable him to travel in France and Holland.  This and introductions to important collectors formed the basis for his next move.

---

Timeline: 1734-35 - Studying in France and learning to paint on vellum
​

Laboratoire dans le Jardin Royale des Plantes (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

1734-35 - Spent time in France. People he met on his travels provided him with letters of introduction to the Jardins du roi. Subsequently he secured a room in the gardenhouse of the Jardin Royal des Plantes for the winter of 1734-5. His work was based mostly at the Jardins les Plantes in Paris.  

This is where he learned to paint on vellum, a practice which he would continue to use for the rest of his life.

​In France he would have access to and was introduced to the work of 

• Nicholas Robert (1614-85)
• Claude Aubriet (1651-1742) who was the "peintre du roi" and was a botanical illustrator at the Jardin du Roi in Paris.
• Madeleine Françoise Basseporte, (28 April 1701 – 6 September 1780) who replaced Aubriet as 'Royal Painter' on his death.
• Bernard de Jussieu (1699-1777) - who was the demonstrator when Ehret was there. He was a botanist and teacher of botany who also supervised the artists and would have taught Ehret. He also transformed the Jardin des Plantes from a herb garden to a proper botanical garden.

Bernard de Jussieu, Botaniste - who was Ehret's teacher in Paris

Bernard du Jussieu taught him. He also persuaded him that the gardens in England would provide him with the material for his work. He supplied him with Letters of Introduction and a passport signed by the King.

---

Timeline: 1735-36 - First visit to England

To Mr Mortimer, doctor of medicine and secretary of the Royal Society
...I would like to ask you to bestow the honour of your kinds on Mr Ehret, a German painter. His excellence in painting objects of a botanical nature, compels me to recommend him to you in particular. I do not doubt that you, a connoisseur that you are, will render him all the services at your disposal, and that you will give him every facility to occupy his time usefully in London.
​I am with gratitude and sincere friendship, Monsieur, your very humble and obedient servant, B. de Jussieu at Paris, 7 March 1735
letter quoted in Ehret: Flower Painter Extraordinary

Ehret left France for England in 1735 and spent 12 months there. He met

• Sir Hans Sloane, a medical practitioner who was President of the Royal Society and provided the grounds for the Chelsea Physic Garden.
• Philip Miller, curator/chief gardener of the Physick Garden in Chelsea 

​as well as many other people. He also saw a lot of plants and was able to produce work for some 12 months, some of which was sent to Trew.

However commissions were slow and in 1736 he left England for Holland.

[Note: he subsequently married Miller's sister-in-law.]

Sir Hans Sloane, an engraving from a portrait by T. Murray

---

Timeline: 1736: Working with Carl Linnaeus on Hortus Cliffortianus and Systema Naturae
​

1736 - Early in 1736, he arrived in Holland from England.

Initially he spent a month in Leiden, probably visiting and drawing in the botanical garden

Met the Swedish physician and garden manager, Carl Linnaeus. This was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

Ehret began to work with Linnaeus at the De Hartecamp Estate of George Clifford (1685-1760), south of Haarlem. Clifford was a rich Amsterdam banker who was also governor of the Dutch East India Company. He was able to be a patron of and employ those who worked with plants.

Ehret introduced himself to Clifford by showing him drawings he had done of plants newly introduced in England and Clifford bought all his drawings for 3 guiders each. Ehret was then commissioned by Clifford to draw living and dried plants at the garden at at De Hartecamp

Linnaeus also worked at De Hartecamp between 1735 and 1737 created the foundations for modern biological nomenclature (now known as binomial nomenclature) associated with systematic differentiation of morphology.

Linnaeus was able to show Ehret precisely how he wanted plants to be dissected and drawn - although Ehret considered that his was of drawing was well developed before he met Linnaeus. Ehret helped Linnaeus document the systematic differences between plants. for his publications.

​Note: Correspondence between Linnaeus and Ehret was bequeathed by his family to the Linnean Society.
​

The Hortus Cliffortianus 

Linnaus's first book which employed his new system was the Hortus Cliffortianus (published in 1738 - after Ehret left Holland). 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 worked hard to finish it - as did Ehret in respect of his illustrations which were included in it. Ehret created 20 of the 24 plant portraits in just over the month.

​There is something of a dispute as to who taught Ehret of the importance of drawing the small and minute parts of a plant. Linnaeus claimed he did.  Trew suggested otherwise. Either way, Ehret's memoir suggests he resented being treated as a common draughtsman.

REFERENCE: Hortus Cliffortianus

• ​The George Clifford Herbarium | Natural History Museum
• George Clifford III | Wikipedia
• Hortus Cliffortianus | George Clifford Herbarium
• Hortus Cliffortianus - online version at the Biodiversity Library​​

​

The Hartekamp Estate, near Heemstede in 2009

One of Ehret's drawings for the Hortus Cliffortianus - subsequently engraved

Systema Naturae 

​Linnaeus published the first edition of his Systema Naturae while living in the Netherlands. The diagram made in 1736 by Ehret formed part of that publication. The speculation is that Georg Dionysius Ehret wrote the classification names along the right edge and also applied the colour.

The impact of working with Linnaeus is that Ehret developed a profound knowledge of plant structure which he put to good use when developing his drawings and paintings of plants and flowers in the years that followed.

A single drawing of "Methodus Plantarum Sexualis" in a glass and wooded frame is the original watercolour for the plate of Linnaeus' "Systema Naturae" (1736) and is now held by the Natural History Museum in London.

Towards the end of his stay Ehret visited Amsterdam and visited the botanical garden - and decided he preferred the English ones. He also wanted to return to England so he could draw a new banana plant which was flowering in June.

REFERENCE: ​Systema Naturae 

• Systema Naturae | Wikipedia
• Linnaeus - 1758 Systema Naturae | Archive - in different types of digital files

The signboard “Methodus Plantarum Sexualis in sistemate naturae descripta” (Leiden 1736) images according to Linnés sexual systems 24 classes.

Timeline: Ehret in England (1736 - 1770)
​

The genius of Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770) was the dominant influence in botanical art during the middle years of the eighteenth century
Wilfrid Blunt in The Art of Botanical Illustration

1736: Ehret moved to England and thereafter spent most of his career working in England - for various patrons. 

​He became much sought after as the botanical artist for various botanical publications.

He lived initially with Philip Miller (1691–1771), curator of Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until the late 1760s. (see the plan of the garden below).

• The village of Chelsea was sited outside of the city of London on the banks of the river Thames, thus the soil was extremely fertile being rich with alluvial deposits. In the mid eighteenth century this area also consisted of tree nurseries, which were depositories for seedlings brought back from foreign scientific exploration abroad. There were also market gardens for the production of every kind of vegetable and fruit needed for the hungry environs of London. Sir Hans Sloane, the great long lived naturalist lived at Cheyne Manor and leased the area of the Physic garden to the Royal Society of Apothecaries in perpetuity. It was here that Phillip Miller came, on the recommendation of Sloane, to become Head Gardener or Curator. Miller’s sisterin- law Sarah Kennett was married in 1738 to a highly skilled botanical artist George Dionysius Ehret. 
• Nature, Porcelain and the Age of the Enlightenment.  by Paul Crane​

"The Physic Garden, Chelsea: a plan view". Engraving by John Haynes, 1751. This is what the Physic Garden would have looked like while Ehret was working there with Miller

​Miller was also able to introduce him to other naturalists who were interested in plants e.g. 

• Professor John Martyn (1699-1768) Professor of Botany at Cambridge; 
• Peter Collinson (1693-1768) - a Fellow of the Royal Society and an avid gardener, who owned a large garden and extensive plant collections in Peckham and then Mill Hill. He's best known for his horticultural friendship with John Bartram

The Physic Garden, Chelsea: men botanizing in the garden, near the statue of Sir Hans Sloane, 1750. Wood engraving by T. W. Lascelles after H. G. Glindoni, 1890.

Miller produced a book called  Figures of the most Beautiful, Useful, and Uncommon plants described in the Gardeners Dictionary (1755). ​This included illustrations of 300 plants from the Physic Garden and Ehret contributed 16 of the illustrations. ​His plates included cross-sections and insects associated with the pollination of individual plants.

Ehret's work is also supposed to have influenced images on Chelsea ware porcelain and ceramics of this era.  

​The "red anchor period" included tableware decorated with images of botanically accurate plants. These were reputedly copied from the eighth edition of Philip Miller's The Gardener's Dictionary (1752).

PORCELAIN REFERENCE:

• Nature, Porcelain and the Age of the Enlightenment. A Natural History of Early English Porcelain and its place in the eighteenth century home. Paul Crane

Most botanical renderings on these Chelsea pieces were taken from illustrations in Philip Miller's Gardener's Dictionary of 1754 and Figures of... Plants depicting specimens from the Chelsea Physic Garden, published in 1760, and from Plantae Selectae Quarum Imagines, after Georg Dionysius Ehret, published in 1750-1753. Usually the engraved design on the Chelsea porcelain plates is faithfully copied, including cross-sections of flowers or fruit as well as the particular insect instrumental in fertilizing the plant.
Sotheby's Catalogue

A Magnolia species (commonly called the Laurel Leaved Tulip Tree or Carolina Laurel): flowering stem with labelled floral segments, fruit and seed. Coloured etching by G. D. Ehret, c.1737, after himself. The tree featured in the print produced its flowers in the garden of Sr. Charles Wager at Parsons Green near Fulham, in August of 1737

1737 - Ehret was recommended by Collinson to Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty, who lived at Hollybush, a stately brick house, situated at the south-east corner of Parson's Green, Fulham. This was where Ehret observed the Magnolia grandiflora flowering in August 1737. Ehret travelled every day from Chelsea to observe all the different stages from bud to full flower. (see above). The species is identified as the Laurel Leaved Tulip Tree - or Magnolia grandiflora

A great part of the old building has been pulled down, and there are now scarce any traces of its former state. Bowack, who wrote an account of Fulham in 1706, describes the gardens as containing twenty acres of ground, and speaks of a tuliptree seventy-six feet in height, and five feet nine inches in girth (fn. 104). The greater part of this ground is now let to a market-gardener.
Parsons Green, Fulham - British History Online

1738: Married Susanna Kennet (d.1781) who was a sister of Philip Miller's wife.. They had three children but only a son called George Philip Ehret (1741-1786) survived.

Ehret was recognised as one of the artists illustrating the Hortus cliffortianus (published in 1738) - which was recognised as a critical and influential example of early botanical literature.

1748 - Began the publication of a book about flower engravings Plantae et Papiliones Rariores, published 1748-49 in batches and partly financed by subscriptions (an early example of crowdfunding!) See below.

1750: Established as a prominent artist in botanical illustration

1750 - created plates for his patron - Christopher Jacob Trew's Plantae Selectae, published in 1750 and Hortus Nitidissimus (published 1786). See below for more about Plantae Selectae

See the Collection of 49 [50] watercolour drawings of plants on paper and vellum in mounts. | Natural History Museum 

1757: Ehret was made a Fellow of the Royal Society

1770: Died age 62 on 9 September 1770 in Chelsea, London.

According to the Natural History Museum, there are known to be some 3,000 of his drawings and paintings in collections.

Selenicereus grandiflorus (The Queen of the Night - a night blooming cactus) by Ehret. Plantae selectae. Ionnes Elias Haid filius. Tab. 31

Illustration: Tab. XLIV: Haemanthus Colchici foliis, periantheo herbaceo - from Plantae Selectae

BIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE:

• Ehret: Flower Painter Extraordinary - see below
• Georg Dionysius Ehret - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia - Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708 - 1770) was a botanist and entomologist, and is best known for his botanical illustrations.
• Global Gallery - Georg Dionysius Ehret - Artist Biography Global Gallery. The Online Art Source.Georg Dionysius Ehret - online biography
• MBG - Ehret - Ehret biography
• Ehret main - Georg Dionysius Ehret is one of the great names in the history of botanical art with his drawings providing a major contribution to eighteenth century botany.
• Natural History Museum - Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770) - Ehret lived at a time of scientific discovery and enlightenment in Europe, a 'golden age of botanical art'. His unique style and clarity of plant illustration was immediately useful and sought out by specialists.
• Karlsruher Tulips Book - Codex Karlsruhe 3302

Papaya by Ehret

Ehret: Flower Painter Extraordinary by Gerta Calmann

This is the very first book I bought about Ehret. It's a large and well produced book which includes facsimiles of both his drawings and paintings.  It covers:

• his biography
• the people he worked with and for
• the books he created illustrations for
• places where his artwork is now located

It's very well researched and has very extensive notes and bibliography

It's great for getting large pictures of his artwork - drawings, paintings and engravings.

Hardcover: 160 pages
This is a BIG book - 33.5 x 24.4 x 2.3 cm
​95 illustrations including 33 in colour
Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd;
1st edition published 25 Aug. 1977

Typically only available as a used book.  The slip cover on mine is torn at the top - but it's not a big deal!

BUY THIS BOOK

Ehret: Flower Painter Extraordinary from Amazon UK

Ehret: Flower Painter Extraordinary from Amazon.com

Plantae et Papiliones Rariores (1748-49)
​

Plantae et Papiliones Rariores was drawn, etched and published by Ehret during 1748-49. It's been described as "an odd hybrid publication".

It wasn't a conventional florilegium - describing plants of a specific place and including lots of plates of flowers.

Nor was it a proper scientific botanical document.  

Instead it introduced people to plants which were rare and exotic which many would have been unfamiliar with. It also presented species in odd ways - such as in a bouquet..

It also includes a table which demonstrates the various parts of dissected flowers. However it also includes a trompe-l'oeil style effect so that the table looks as if it has other botanical drawings laid on top of it.

​Today we wouldn't have any difficulty in recognising a graphical device to catch people's attention - but he was way ahead of his time!

---

Reference: Plant Illustrations: Ehret, D., Plantae et Papiliones Rariores (1748) number of illustrations in this volume: 43

An engraving in the book presenting a table of flower parts - with a trompe-l'oeil style effect

Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature: The Construction of Eighteenth-Century Botanical Illustrations
​by Kärin Nickelsen

This book provides an in-depth insight into Ehret and his contemporaries who were producing botanical illustrations for apothecaries and plant enthusiasts in the 18th Century at the time of Linnaeus.

It's an academic treatise (based on her doctorate on the origin, content and function of scientific drawings of plants ca. 1800).

​Nickelsen is particularly good at tracing how illustrations were developed by reference to the working practices of both botanists and botanical artists using contemporaneous correspondence.

Prof. Dr. Kärin Nickelsen is Chair of the History of Science at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München​

​Hardcover: 295 pages
Dimensions: 16.7 x 1.8 x 24.7 cm
Publisher: Springer;
​Date: 2006 edition (22 Sept. 2006)

This is now a VERY expensive book - new or used.
​I am very glad I bought my copy just after it was published! However it is also accessible via some specialist libraries.

BUY THIS BOOK​​​

Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature:: The Construction of Eighteenth-Century Botanical Illustrations (Archimedes) from Amazon UK

Draughtsmen, Botanists and Nature:: The Construction of Eighteenth-Century Botanical Illustrations (Archimedes) from Amazon.com

​Plantae Selectae - Christoph Jacob Trew and Georg Ehret
​

Tab. XXII From Plantae selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini, in hortis curiosorum nutrita

The publication of Plantae Selectae was begun in 1750 and completed in 1773.

The four men responsible for Plantae Selectae are:

• the painter Georg Dionysius Ehret,
• the collector and patron Dr. Christoph Jacob Trew,
• the publisher Johann Jacob Haid and
• the botanist Benedikt Christian Vogel

Portraits of all four men can be found at the front of Plantae Selectae.

The book is 201 pages and the bulk of this are botanical illustrations by Georg Dionysius Ehret
​
Trew had been purchasing Ehret's botanical paintings for some time and was his most important supporter.

REFERENCE

• Wikimedia Commons: Category:Plantae selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini, in hortis curiosorum nutria - 200+ images of Ehret's work
• Service Commun de la Documentation - Plantae Selectae (digital version) - Plantae Selectae featuring work by Georg EhretDigital version of Christopher Jacob Trew's Plantae Selectae featuring natural history prints by Georg Dionysius Ehret in full colour
• Christoph Jacob Trew; Georg Dionysius Ehret; Johann Jakob Haid | (Digital Version of) Plantae Selectae Quarum Imagines Ad Exemplaria Naturalia Londini In Hortis Curiosorum Nutrita Manu Artificiosa Doctaque Pinxit Georgius Dionysius Ehret Germanus Occasione Haud Vulgari Collegit Nominibus Propriis Notisque Subinde Illustravit Et Publico Usvi Dicavit D. Christophorus Iacobus Trew Medicus Norimbergensis In Aes Incidit Et Vivis Coloribus Repraesentavit Ioannes Iacobus Haid Pictor Et Chalcographus Augustanus | [Augsburg]: Johann Jakob Haid, 1750-73 | Germanisches Nationalmuseum | Digitale Bibliothek 
• ​Hunt Institute Art: Georg Dionys Ehret - Botanical artist Georg Dionys Ehret Collection.
• Harald Fischer Verlag - CD of Plantae Selectae
  Plantae selectae Augsburg, 1750 - 17734 portraits, 56 pages, 100 coloured copper plants
• Georg Ehret's illustrations for Trew's Plantae Selectae
  Antique natural history prints by Georg Dionysius Ehret from Christopher Jacob Trew's Plantae Selectae. These German natural history engravings were hand colored at the time of publication.
• Village Antiques: Collection of Superb 18th Century Engravings from Plantae Selectae / Ehret Trew - 
  Collection: Plantae SelectaeThese extraordinary handcolored copperplate engravings come from one of the great masterpieces of 18th Century Botanical Illustration, the Plantae Selectae(Select

Portrait of Dr. Christoph Jacob Trew, the German physician, botanist and sponsor of the Plantae Selectae

Tab III from Plantae selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini, in hortis curiosorum nutrita

---

​Georg Dionysius Ehret's Artwork in Museums and Art Collections
​

Facsimile of ink, pencil and watercolour sketch tilted 'Aloe Americana' by Georg Dionysius Ehret. (1748).

Ehret's work is very impressive and much is preserved in excellent condition.

His artwork - sketchbooks, botanical illustrations and paintings - is typically in excellent condition and can be seen in various museums and art collections.  

His sketchbooks which cover the years 1746-1750 were obtained by Sir Joseph Banks who passed them on to the British Museum. They're now kept by the Natural History Museum and facsimiles are on public exhibition.

The work relating to the 1740s can be inspected in the Prints and Drawing Room of the Victoria and Albert Museum. It has 94 drawings on vellum. The majority are drawn between 1743 and 1747 and portray garden favourites for that period plus some native wild flowers.

Later works (after 1750) can be seen at the Herbarium Library at Kew Gardens. This includes the Ehret drawings included in the Arthur Church Collection.

His work is also regularly on view in exhibitions of botanical art.

Ehret's notebooks show his excellent botanical knowledge and are wonderful examples of scientific botanical illustrations drawn in the field
Natural History Museum - Images of Nature exhibition

Facsimile of ink, pencil and watercolour sketch of Sophora Tomentosa (1747) by George Ehret

Where can you see Ehret's artwork? 
​

IN THE UK

• ​Natural History Museum - The Georg Ehret Drawings Collection - The Library at the Natural History Museum holds approximately 1,000 sketches and unfinished works by Ehret, as well as numerous others of his finished illustrations.
• British Museum - You can see a copy of Ehret's “Methodus Plantarum Sexualis in sistemate naturae descripta” in the Age of Enlightenment Gallery on the Ground Floor 
• Georg Ehret's sketchbooks - botanical illustration - about sketchbooks on display at the Natural History Museum in London
• The sketchbooks, manuscripts and botanical drawings of Georg Dionysius Ehret - the Natural History Holding as listed on COPAC; Five volumes of sketches, three volumes of drawings, 352 mounts, one framed drawing, four letters, 61 sheets of handwritten notes, 13 sheets of autobiography, 11 sheets of biography in the handwriting of Christoph Trew. 
• ​Victoria and Albert Museum - works by Georg Dionysius Ehret - drawings by Georg Dionysius Ehret 
• The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge - drawings and paintings by Georg Dionysius Ehret - 64 drawings and paintings - mostly graphite, watercolour and bodycolour on vellum​
• Royal Collection - Georg Dionysius Ehret - Georg Dionysius Ehret Magnoliac.1736-47

Ehret in the British Museum

IN THE USA
​

• Hunt Institute: Georg Dionys Ehret - Botanical artist Georg Dionys Ehret Collection at Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. The Georg Dionys Ehret Collection contains 227 gouache paintings and 10 engravings and etchings.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art - works by Georg Dionysius Ehret - Georg Dionysius Ehret (German, 1708 - 1770) Displaying 1-19 of 19 artist works
• The Morgan - drawings by Georg Ehret - many images not available online

The Hunt Institute has also had two specific exhibitions of his artwork

• 1 May 6 October 1967 - Georg D. Ehret: A Selection of His Botanical Paintings
• 9 October 1997 28 February 1998 - Botanical Art by Georg Dionysius Ehret,

Crop of Carnations - Gouache and graphite on vellum (1750s)

Ehret's Flowering Plants (Victoria and Albert Natural History Illustrators Series) 
by Gill Saunders (Author)

​This books draws on the collection of 90 watercolour paintings by Ehret in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum - some of which were published for the first time in this book.

Gill Saunders, the author, is also the Curator of the Design, Prints and Drawing Department. She is also author of Picturing Plants: An Analytical History of Botanical Illustrations.

Hardcover: 64 pages
Publisher: Webb & Bower (Publishers) Ltd;
​First Edition published: 26 Oct. 1987

​Typically only used copies are available to buy online

Average Customer Rating out of 5 stars:

• in UK: 4.3 based on 3 customer reviews
• in USA: 5.0 based on 3 customer reviews​

BUY THIS BOOK​​

Ehret's Flowering Plants (The Victoria & Albert natural history illustrators) from Amazon UK

Ehret's Flowering Plants (Victoria and Albert Natural History Illustrators) from Amazon.com

---

Ehret's artistic practices and preferred media
​

Ehret drew a lot from a young age.  Over the years his output was prodigious!

Typically he both signed and dated drawings which enables a study of how his style changed over the years.

• His father taught him to draw.
• He was a self-taught painter. He learned how to grind paints while assisting Sievert but apparently did not receive any lessons in painting. It's probable that he learned to paint through observation and practice.
• Early paintings tended to be workman-like but flat in appearance
• He developed his skills through drawing plants that were local to wherever he was living - developing a flora of the area.
• He began using vellum for his paintings after he studied at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and studied the work of Claude Aubriet. Vellum in France was called pergament
• he has become an accomplished botanical painter by 1740 in no small part to the very paintings he produced
• he produced sketchbook studies using pencil, pen and ink and watercolour. These demonstrate close attention to and observation of plant structure and excellent draughtsmanship.
• He paid attention to how best to preserve colour in specimens while painting. 
• He learned from botanists which were the parts of plants that were important - and which were the distinguishing features.
• Dissections and small details of plants were often drawn and painted at multiples of life size
• He painted in watercolour. His paintings became more opaque over time as he began to use body colour in preference to transparent watercolour. He is said (by Blunt) to have preferred the use of body colour for more important paintings
• He also made copies of his work for himself.
• He could also produce etchings from his own paintings and these are frequently what we see when we see his work.
• He often adds 'fecit', 'p' or 'pins' or 'del' and his name to his work. He often dates work as well.

Ehret always preferred vellum to paper and body colour to transparent wash for his most important work
Wilfrid Blunt - The Art of Botanical Illustration (Chapter 12 The Age of Ehret)

Cereus - Flower and fruit of the Queen of the Night dissected by Ehret

---

Individual botanical artworks by Ehret​ 
​

The following are examples of his artwork which you can see online in two collections.
(I'll be developing this section over time to highlight examples in other collections)

Victoria and Albert Museum

• American Turk's-cap lily (Lilium superbum) | Ehret, Georg Dionysus | V&A Search the Collections - Watercolour by G.D. Ehret depicting Turk's-cap lily, 1740s. Museum Number D.589-1886.
• American Turk's-cap Lily; Lilium superbum; Plantae Selectae | Ehret, Georg Dionysus | V&A Search
  Botanical illustration, American Turk's-cap Lily, Lilium superbum. Hand-coloured engraving after a drawing by Georg Dionysius Ehret, engraved by Johann Hakob Haid for Christoph Jakob Trew's Plantae Selectae (Nuremberg, 1750-1773); 
• Bocconia; hand-coloured engraving after a drawing by Georg Dionysius Ehret, engraved by Johann Hakob Haid (1704-67); London; 1750; for Christoph Jakob Trew's 'Plantae Selectae' (Nuremberg, 1750-1773); proof of plate iv, part 1
• Bull Bay; Magnolia grandiflora L. | Ehret, Georg Dionysus | V&A Search the Collections
  Botanical study of a Bull Bay (Magnolia grandiflora) by Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-70); watercolour and gouache on vellum; London; 1743. Museum Number D.583-1886.
• Cereus Cactus | Ehret, Georg Dionysus | V&A Search the Collections
  Watercolour and gouache on vellum depicting Cereus Cactus by George Dionysus Ehret, 18th century.. Museum Number D.601-1886.
• Botanical study, Christmas rose (Helleborus niger L.) and Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis (L.) Salisb.) by Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-70); watercolour and bodycolour on vellum; ca 1745; London
• ​Creeping Cereus; Disocactus flagelliformis (L.) Barthlott; Plantae Selectae | Ehret, Georg Dionysus Creeping Cereus (Disocactus flagelliformis (L.) Barthlott); hand-coloured engraving by Johann Jakob Haid after a drawing by Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-70); 1752; proof of plate XXX, part 3 for 'Plantae Selectae...' by Christoph Jakob Trew (Nuremberg
• Watercolour and gouache on vellum depicting Daphne Mezereum with butterfly by George Dionysus Ehret, France, 18th century.
• Oswego Tea-plant; Monarda didyma L.; Leonurus Canadensii Origani folio | Ehret, Georg Dionysus | V&a
  Botanical study, watercolour drawing of an Oswego Tea-plant or Bergamot, Monarda didyma, Georg Dionysius Ehret, about 1740, made in London; British.. Museum Number D.588-1886.
• Papaya; Carica papaya L.; Plantae Selectae | Ehret, Georg Dionysus | V&A Search the Collections
  Papaya (Carica papaya L.); hand-coloured engraving after a drawing by Georg Dionysius Ehret, engraved by Johann Hakob Haid (1704-67); London; 1750; for Christoph Jakob Trew's 'Plantae Selectae' (Nuremberg, 1750-1773); proof of plate vii, part 1. Muse
• Perroquet Rouge; Parrot Tulip | Ehret, Georg Dionysus | V&A Search the Collections
  Parrot Tulip (Tulipa gesneriana) or Perroquet rouge by George Dionysius Ehret (1708-70); watercolour and bodycolour on vellum; 1744; England. Museum Number D.582-1886.

Royal Collection

• Witch-hazel | Royal Collection Trust
  A watercolour of two crossed branches of the shrub with green, serrated leaves, cream coloured, spidery flowers and a brown seed pod with black seeds.
• Chamaerhododendron lauri folio and Chamaerhododendron sempervierens foliis oblongis | Royal Collecti
  A watercolour of two plants. To the centre a branch with wide, large, green leaves and a large pinkish-white flower head. In the background, top right, is a plant with grey-green pointed leaves and a cluster of small, pink flowers.
• Chamaedaphne [Mountain laurel Kalmia latifolia L.] | Royal Collection Trust
  A watercolour of branch
• Anona fructu lutescente | Royal Collection Trust
  A watercolour of a branch with fruit and two separate studies of a bean or seed and a sprig of creamy white flowers and green leaves.
• Orchid | Royal Collection Trust
  A watercolour of a green plant with long, wide, deep green leaves and a yellow and orange flower.
• Silky Camellia | Royal Collection Trust
  A watercolour of a sprig of bright green, serrated leaves and white flowers with five petals and pink, fluffy centres. A separate study of the seed pods and brown seeds.
• Gardenia augusta (cape jasmine), gouache on vellum, Georg Dionysius Ehret, 1760 - gouache on vellum

British Museum
The collection comprises original watercolours on vellum.

• Study of a red and white carnation (Dianthus Caryophyllus) Watercolour and bodycolour, on vellum
• Study of Rosa Alba; five roses in full bloom Watercolour and bodycolour, on vellum
• ​Study of a Marsh Pine, with two cones; a sprig of spiney leaves with a white flower Watercolour and bodycolour, on vellum - see plate no.46 in G.Calmann 'Ehret: Flower Painter Extraordinary' (Phaidon, 1977)
• Study of Asphodeline Lutea, with two butterflies; a spear of yellow flowers with tendril-like leaves below. 1747 Watercolour and bodycolour, on vellum
• Study of Byttneria; heart-shaped leaves on a spiky stem, with small star-shaped flowers, a separate study of the flower parts below at l. 1740 Watercolour and bodycolour, on vellum
• Study of Symphoricarpos Orbiculatus; shrub with berries, a sprig showing white flowers to right, separate study of the fruit and flowers to left Watercolour and bodycolour, on vellum​

The plant was drawn in 1740 in the garden of Baron Petre of Writtle at Thorndon Hall, Brentwood, Essex. Petre was a famous botanist whose garden was renowned for its rare plants, in particular those introduced from America. This specimen was produced from seed imported from America and flowered as drawn in its first year. Petre died of smallpox in 1742 at the age of 29.
Commentary on the Study of Byttneria in British Museum 
The Baron Petre in the comment is the 8th Baron Petre (based on dates) and is described as being "by his teenage years was friends with some of the most eminent botanists, horticulturists and landscapers of the day"

Natural History Museum Images
Images of works in the permanent collection are only accessible via the Images website. They include:

• Cedrus libani, cedar of Lebanon
• Pinus pinaster Aiton, cluster pine
• Picea glauca (Moench.) Voss., white spruce
• Picea glauca, white spruce
• Salix alba L., willow
• ​Pinus palustris Miller, long-leaf pine
• Magnolia grandifolra, southern magnolia
• ​Colocasia esculenta, taro
• Ananas sativas
• Aloe succotrina, fynbos aloe & Aloe vera, true aloe - Sketch 249 from the Ehret Collection of Sketches (unbound) 
• ​Gentiana acaulis, stemless gentian - Plate 50 from the collection of original drawings and sketches 

All the above are held in the Botany Library at the Natural History Museum, London.

---

More Famous Botanical Artists of the Past
​

• Past Masters of Botanical Art and Illustration - European artists 1500 - 1900
• Famous Asian Botanical Artists ​600-1900
• 20th Century Botanical Artists (now deceased)