About this sheet
This antique botanical print from Bertuch's Bilderbuch shows two European trees of the rose family in blossom, the whitebeam and the wild service tree. The heading reads Pflanzen CXLIV and the Vienna mark XV.B.49 is engraved at lower right.
Figure 1 is read as the whitebeam, then classed as Crataegus aria, with broad toothed leaves, one turned to show its silvery underside, a cluster of white flowers and a single red berry. Figure 2 is read as the wild service tree, Crataegus torminalis in the older naming, with sharply lobed maple like leaves, white blossom and two brown speckled fruits. Both were valued in the countryside for hard timber and for fruit that sweetens after frost, and the plate is a pleasing study of native woodland trees.
Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747 to 1822) began his Bilderbuch fuer Kinder in Weimar in 1790 as a picture encyclopaedia for young readers, and over four decades it grew to almost 1,200 plates on plants, animals, peoples, antiquities and the sciences. Its success led to other editions, and this sheet comes from the Vienna edition begun by Anton Pichler as the Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend, with text in German and French; Pichler issued the first ten volumes, and the later volumes, including this one, are believed to have been issued by B. Ph. Bauer in Vienna. The Vienna plates were newly engraved after the Weimar originals, keep the Weimar subject numbering in a heading in German, Latin and French, and carry a volume and plate number in the lower margin, here the mark XV.B.49. Vienna volume XV follows Weimar volume VIII, which appeared in 1813, so this plate was published no earlier than that. The plate is a copper engraving with original hand colour, as the Vienna volumes were issued coloured.
A plate like this suits a kitchen, study or garden room, and it hangs well in a group with other Bertuch botanical sheets of the same size. For a collector it is also a neat example of how the Bilderbuch travelled beyond Weimar in the years around 1800.
The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning and a few small spots; the image is clean and the colour fresh.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
