Red Anenomes in a glass Jar, pink Roses, Narcissi, Convulvulus, Harebells and Daisies in a Basket, with Cherries, a Bird's Nest, a Snail and other Flowers on a Ledge

Known as 'Le Raphäel de Fleurs', Pierre-Joseph Redouté was born in Saint-Hubert in Belgium, and followed his elder brother to Paris in 1782, where he studied first with the engraver Demarteau and then with the flower painter Gérard van Spaendonck. By the time of the execution of the present picture, Redouté's skill as a botanical artist, working mainly in watercolour on prepared vellum, was widely acknowledged. In 1785, he provided 54 plates for the Stirpes Novae, and worked in England in 1787 for his patron Charles-Louis L'Hertier de Brutelle on the Sertum Anglium, which was published the following year. In 1789, he was appointed Dessinateur du Cabinet de Marie-Antoinette, and Dessinateur de l'Académie des Sciences, in 1792. He went on to work for the Empress Josephine, Marie Louise, the Duchesse de Berry and Queen Amélie and Madame Adelaïde (see E. Hardouin-Fugier and E. Grafe, French Flower Painters of the 19th Century, ed. P. Mitchell, London, 1989, pp. 332-5). His most famous botanical illustrations are the two volumes of Les roses (published 1817-22) and Les liliacées (published 1802-16).

Redouté is known to have exhibited mainly watercolours at the Salon from 1796 to 1841. His oils are rare, and as Michel and Fabrice Faré note, 'justement recherchés' (M. and F. Faré, La vie silencieuse en France: la nature morte au XVIIIe siècle, Fribourg, 1976, pp. 314-6).