Lot Essay
The present watercolour can be compared to the plates, executed by Anton Hartinger, for Stephan Ladislauss Endlicher's Paradisus Vindobonensis, Vienna, 1844-1860. The publication consisted of chromolithographs recording unusual flowering plants grown in gardens and museums in Vienna. Comparing this watercolour with a hand-coloured copy in the Lindley Library, Royal Horticultural Society, the handling of the watercolour is very similar particularly in the use of green and white pigments to describe the leaves and stalks. Many of the plates have a similar buff background.
Hartinger was a flower painter and lithographer who was born and studied in Vienna. He was awarded a number of prizes and went on to illustrate many botanical works. In 1859 he founded his own lithographic workshop and published works on forest plants and fungi.
Hartinger was a flower painter and lithographer who was born and studied in Vienna. He was awarded a number of prizes and went on to illustrate many botanical works. In 1859 he founded his own lithographic workshop and published works on forest plants and fungi.