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Pierre Bulliard
Set of Four Color Engravings from "Herbier de la France" by Pierre Bulliard

1780-1793

About the Item

Artist: Pierre Bulliard (French, 1742-1793) Title: "La Gratiole Officinale (Grace of God)", "La Digitale Jaune (Yellow Foxglove)", "La Renoncule Acre (Acre Buttercup)", and "La Chelidoine Majeure (Greater Celandine)" Portfolio: Herbier de la France Year: 1780-1793 Medium: Set of Four Original Color Engravings on watermarked laid paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: Pierre Bulliard, Paris, France Publisher: Pierre Bulliard and Didot Jeune, Paris, France Reference: Dunthorne No. 70; Great Flower Books, page 52; Nissen BBI No. 296; Blunt and Stearn, page 171; Stafleu & Cowan No. 905, 907, 908, and 910 Sheet size (each): approx. 13.19" x 8.63" Image size (each): approx. 6.63" x 5.75" Condition: "La Renoncule Acre (Acre Buttercup)" and "La Chelidoine Majeure (Greater Celandine)" have some faint foxmarks in margins. They are all otherwise in excellent condition with strong colors Notes: Comes from Bulliard's seven volume portfolio "Herbier de la France" (1780-1793), which consists of 602 color-printed engravings. "La Gratiole Officinale (Grace of God)" has a partial unidentified watermark upper right. "La Renoncule Acre (Acre Buttercup)" and "La Chelidoine Majeure (Greater Celandine)" have partial unidentified watermarks upper left. This portfolio is also referred to as "Ou collection complette des plantes indigenes de ce Royaume; avec leurs Détails Anatomiques, leurs propriétés, et leurs usages en Medecine." All 602 plates were drawn, engraved, and color-printed by the author, Pierre Bulliard. He achieved the delicately modulated color entirely by printing with three tint plates over an engraved black outline and shading. Bulliard used a sequence of plates, one for each color, explaining the thirteen years it took to publish the seven volumes of "Herbier de la France". The plants were organized according to the traditional herbals - medicinal, poisonous, edible - remaining botanically valid since the plants were classified according to the Linnaean system. "Great Flower Books" states that this portfolio is "probably the first botanical work completely color-printed without retouching by hand." Nonetheless, "Herbier de la France" is recognized as one of the most impressive examples of color printing in the history of botanical illustration. "Bulliard was his own printer. He mixed colored inks with great delicacy and, in general, accuracy, and inked his tint plates with minute attention to detail. Some of his tinting seems to have relied on the additional effect of a rich ink tone to give greater local ‘solidity’. The three tint plates were overprinted on the ‘key’ plate with hair’s-breadth accuracy, and evidence of his method of obtaining such precise positioning, or register, can be seen in pin holes at the upper right and lower left corners of the line frame. The final effect is delicate, pleasing and botanically accurate, and the whole collection has a unique quietly individual flavor. The degree of craftsmanship necessary to create these prints is only apparent when one studies them in close detail." - (Printmaking in the service of Botany, page 39). Biography: Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard (also Pierre Bulliard; 24 November 1752, in Aubepierre-sur-Aube Haute-Marne – 26 September 1793, in Paris) was a French physician and botanist. The standard author abbreviation Bull. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name. Bulliard studied in Langres, where he became interested in natural history, and afterwards a position was obtained for him in the abbey in Clairvaux and later he moved to Paris where he study medicine. There he also practiced as a physician. He tutored the son of General Claude Dupin (1686-1769). He was an able draughtsman and also learnt to engrave. He invented a way of printing natural history plates in colour and used the method in his own publications. In 1779 he commenced a work on the poisonous plants of France. It was seized by the police on the grounds that it was a dangerous work. Bulliard's Dictionnaire Elémentaire de Botanique (1783) contributed to the spreading and consolidation of botanical terminology and the Linné system. It was especially important in the area of the mycology, containing descriptions of 393 out of 602 table mushrooms.
  • Creator:
    Pierre Bulliard (1742 - 1793, French)
  • Creation Year:
    1780-1793
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 13.19 in (33.51 cm)Width: 8.63 in (21.93 cm)
  • Medium:
    Intaglio,Engraving,Laid Paper
  • Movement & Style:
    Old Masters
  • Period:
    1780-1789
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Saint Augustine, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU121212767622
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