Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10

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

1780-1793

$600
£460.77
€528.04
CA$844.65
A$946.20
CHF 492.14
MX$11,541.65
NOK 6,265.59
SEK 5,908.01
DKK 3,941.16

About the Item

Artist: Pierre Bulliard (French, 1742-1793) Title: "Le Pied de Griffon (Griffin's Foot)", "La Laureole (The Laurel)", and "Le Cabaret d'Europe (The European Cabaret)" Portfolio: Herbier de la France Year: 1780-1793 Medium: Set of Three 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. 13.13" x 8.75" Image size (each): approx. 6.5" x 5.5" Condition: "Le Pied de Griffon (Griffin's Foot)" has faint scattered foxmarks and a small crease to upper left corner. "La Laureole (The Laurel)" has remnants of mounting tape on verso. 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. "Le Cabaret d'Europe (The European Cabaret)" has an unidentified watermark 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: 13.13 in (33.36 cm)Width: 8.75 in (22.23 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
    1780-1789
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Saint Augustine, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU121212767602

More From This Seller

View All
Set of Four Color Engravings from "Herbier de la France" by Pierre Bulliard
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
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 Cheli...
Category

1780s Old Masters Still-life Prints

Materials

Laid Paper, Engraving, Intaglio

Set of Three Engravings from Curtis's "Flora Londinensis" /// Botanical Flowers
By William Curtis
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: William Curtis (English, 1746-1799) Titles: "Epilobium Tetragonum (Square Stalked Willow Herb)" (Vol. 2, Plate 131), "Stellaria Holostea (The Greater Stitchwort)" Vol. 2, Pla...
Category

1770s Old Masters Still-life Prints

Materials

Watercolor, Laid Paper, Engraving, Intaglio

Set of Three Hand-Colored Lithographs from Roscoe's "Monandrian Plants"
By William Roscoe
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: William Roscoe (English, 1753-1831) Title: "Phrynium Myrosma", "Costus Maculatus", and "Kaempferia Galanga (Aromatic Ginger)" Portfolio: Monandrian Plants of the order Scitam...
Category

1820s Victorian Still-life Prints

Materials

Watercolor, Lithograph

Set of Six Hand-Colored Engravings from Curtis's Botanical Magazine /// Botany
By William Curtis
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: William Curtis (English, 1746-1799) Title: Set of Six Hand-Colored Engravings Portfolio: The Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-Garden Displayed Year: 1789-1810 (First-second ser...
Category

1780s Victorian Still-life Prints

Materials

Intaglio, Laid Paper, Engraving, Watercolor

Set of Six Hand-Colored Engravings from Curtis's Botanical Magazine /// Botany
By William Curtis
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: William Curtis (English, 1746-1799) Title: Set of Six Hand-Colored Engravings Portfolio: The Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-Garden Displayed Year: 1796-1829 (First-third seri...
Category

1790s Victorian Still-life Prints

Materials

Watercolor, Engraving, Intaglio

Set of Two Hand-Colored Lithographs from Roscoe's "Monandrian Plants" /// Botany
By William Roscoe
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: William Roscoe (English, 1753-1831) Title: "Maranta Arundinacea (Arrowroot)" and "Phrynium Grandiflorum" Portfolio: Monandrian Plants of the order Scitamineae, Chiefly Drawn ...
Category

1820s Victorian Still-life Prints

Materials

Watercolor, Lithograph

You May Also Like

Set of 4 Antique Prints of Various Plants by Jacquin, 'c.1790'
Located in Langweer, NL
Set of four antique prints illustrating various plants. These prints originate from 'Collectanea Austriaca' by N.J. Jacquin. Published between 1786 and 1796.
Category

Antique Late 18th Century Prints

Materials

Paper

Two Botanical Lithographs, Flora Of America
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
Étienne DENISSE (1785-1861) Gombeau Edible and Trompette. Collection of the most remarkable Flowers and Fruits, natural size. Two lithographs enhanced with watercolor. Around 1830. F...
Category

1830s Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Set of 4, 17th Century Botanical Engravings by Jan and Caspar Commelin
Located in Gloucestershire, GB
Beautiful set of 4, 17th century botanical engravings by Jan and Caspar Commelin. Presented in silver frames with hessian mounts and AR70 Artglass for optimal clarity. Jan Commelin...
Category

Antique 17th Century Dutch Prints

Materials

Paper

Set of Two Rare Botanical Engravings by D’Orbigny — 1849
Located in Fukuoka, JP
Set of Two Rare Botanical Engravings by D’Orbigny — Dictionnaire Universel d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 1849 An exquisite pair of original hand-colored botanical engravings from the...
Category

Antique 19th Century French Prints

Materials

Paper

Set of Four Hand-Colored Botanical Prints from Book of Worlds, 1848
Located in Langweer, NL
Set of Four Hand-Colored Botanical Prints from Book of Worlds, 1848 This elegant set of four hand-colored botanical lithographs originates from the 1848 German natural history publi...
Category

Antique 1840s Prints

Materials

Paper

Heritage Blossoms: A Trio of 1845 Hand-Colored Botanical Engravings
Located in Langweer, NL
These exquisite engravings from the 'Dictionnaire Classique des Sciences Naturelles' epitomize the symbiosis of art and science in the mid-19th century. Authored by Pierre Auguste Jo...
Category

Antique Mid-19th Century Prints

Materials

Paper