Engraving of Sunflowers by Johann Weinmann

Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) was a botanist, pharmacist and academic scholar who directed a famous pharmacy in Regensburg. The "Phytanthoza Iconographia" was his masterpiece; a huge work in eight folio volumes, which provided one of the most comprehensive botanical references of the eighteenth century. It has been described as a "pioneering work of botanical prints” and it remains today one of the most ambitious works ever undertaken, displaying over 4,000 species. The artist for much of the work was the gifted and very collectible Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770). Born into a humble family in Heidelberg, Germany, Ehret was taught to draw by his father at an early age. As a young man, he worked as a gardener, first for the Elector of Heidelberg and then the Margrave of Badaen-Durlac. He became a well respected botanist and entomologist and one of the most influential European botanical artists of all time.