Purple Amaranth: 18th Century Hand Colored Botanical Engraving by J. Weinmann

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An 18th century color printed in addition to hand colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving by Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) … Read more An 18th century color printed in addition to hand colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving by Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) depicting the following flowering amaranthus plants: a. "Amaranthus seu Blitum rubrum majus Imortel (Purple Amaranth or Guernsey pigweed), b. Amaranthus purpureus major, c. Amaranthus flare saturate rubro.", Plate #88 from "Phytanthoza Iconographia", published in Regensburg, Germany in 1739.

The colored mezzotint and line engraving with additional vibrant hand coloring is printed on laid paper. The sheet measures 17" high and 10.25" wide.

Johann Weinmann, a botanist and pharmacist 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 the much of the work was the gifted and very collectible Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770). Born of a humble family in Heidelberg, 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 Heidelburg 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. See less