1980s Vintage Robert Furber August Botanical From "Twelve Months of Flowers” Pierpont Morgan Library Print

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Vintage August botanical print from Robert Furber “Twelve Months of Flowers” Pierpont Morgan Library Print, New York.

Large unframed print.

… Read more Vintage August botanical print from Robert Furber “Twelve Months of Flowers” Pierpont Morgan Library Print, New York.

Large unframed print.

Acquired from large estate in Denver in 2022.

About Twelve Months of Flowers

About 1600 in Germany a new kind of flower illustration appeared: the florilegium. It was a glorified nurseryman's catalogue, without any prices for the splendid examples of flowers offered. These were carnations, tulips, auriculas, anemones, hyacinths, and other highly cultivated plants which were specialties of the florists who were coming into prominence throughout Europe. The illustrations were etched or engraved on copper, frequently hand-colored "to life," and were designed for the rich gardeners who could afford to create elaborate gardens solely for their beauty.

In 1730 in Kensington a nurseryman named Robert Furber published two series of thirteen plates each, Twelve Months of Flowers and Twelve Months of Fruits (the additional plate listed the plates and served as a title page). He was successful in getting about 450 subscribers for these works which were actually advertisements or a catalogue of his seeds, bulbs, and plants. On each of the unusually large plates, thirty different kinds of flowers are arranged in an urn with mythological figures and ancient motifs; the flowers shown are supposed to bloom in the month indicated. But it would indeed be an extraordinarily rare English garden where all of the plants of the autumn and winter months could be grown.

Furber's plates were engraved by Henry Fletcher, who specialized in such botanical work, after designs by Pieter Casteels, a Fleming who had come to England almost thirty years earlier. The pictures have become celebrated for their own beauty and because they were the first notable attempt to translate Dutch flower-pieces into engravings for a catalogue, advertising broadsheet, or book illustration. They also reveal admirably the range and varieties of flowers which could be found in an important eighteenth-century English garden. On occasion, the plates may even introduce a new flower: for example, the first mention of the moss form of the cabbage (Provence) rose may well be here in Furber's series. It is interesting to note that about forty-five of the varieties of flowers were imported from America.

The publication by Furber became very popular not only as a guide for gardeners, but as prints to have on the walls, and as aids for painters, carvers, "Japaners," needleworkers, etc. Furber's set of flower prints was re-engraved several times by different engravers, and issued by other publishers. Usually these later versions of the designs of Casteels are greatly reduced in size, but they sold well for in most of the latter part of the eighteenth century there was no work of similar quality available to the gardening enthusiast.

We know almost nothing about Furber himself, and his garden in Kensington has long since disappeared. His life and work are not recorded in any of the standard biographical dictionaries. We can only say he seems to have flourished from about 1724-1733 and that in the British Library there are two other works by him: A Catalogue of English and Foreign Trees [fruit trees, etc., preceded by a plan with the title "Borders of Cut Works"] Collected and Sold by R.F., in two parts, London, 1727, octavo; and A Short Introduction to Gardening: or a Guide... in Furnishing... Gardens, Being Several Useful Catalogues of Fruit and Flowers, London, 1733, also an octavo. Today Furber remains an important name in botanical history chiefly because of the large, handsome plates here repro- duced. In this new publication we believe that we have achieved a remarkable fidelity to the set of original plates in The Pierpont Morgan Library.

Charles Ryskamp
Director (1969–1987)
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