Images(2)

A CATALOGUE OF TREES, SHRUBS, PLANTS AND FLOWERS

Date1730

Engraver Henry Fletcher

Engraver Elisha Kirkall (1681/82-1742)

After work by Jan Van Huysom

OriginEngland, London

MediumBlack and white line engraving with period hand color; Mezzotint engraving printed in color; Laid paper on modern board in leather binding

DimensionsOH: 18" OW: 11 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1995-82

DescriptionPlate 1: "Bermuda Cedar," Plate 2: "Long Con'd Cornish Firr," Plate 3: "Double Nasturtium," Plate 4: "Bastard indigo + gum cistus," Plate 5: "Honeysuckle," Plate 6: "Honeysuckle + jasmine," Plate 7: "Virginia Scarlet honeysuckle," Plate 8: "Honeysuckle," Plate 9: "Flowering ash," Plate 10: "Althea," Plate 11: "Larch tree," Plate 12: "White lily striped with purple," Plate 13: "Virginia Hawthorn," Plate 14: "Shrub Cinquefoil," Plate 15: "Carolina Kidney bean tree," Plate 16: "Large Cluster pine," Plate 17: "Lord Weymouth Pine + Scotch fir," Plate 18: "Roses," Plate 19: "Pistachio, oleander + Scarlet horse chesnut," Plate 20: "Sumac, Candleberry + St. Peters wort," Plate 21: "Acacia (Locust tree)"Label TextBorn in Amsterdam about 1687, Jacob van Huysum initially trained under his father, a well-known flower painter. After arriving in England about 1721, he met Sir Robert Walpole, regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, who became a patron of van Huysum’s work. While living with Walpole at his home in Norfolk, van Huysum completed a majority of the drawings that would become illustrations for A Catalogue of Trees, Shrubs, Plants and Flowers.

This catalogue was printed for The Society of Gardeners. The goal of this work was to create a form of common nomenclature that would limit the confusion of ordering plants from a nursery.
ProvenanceBefore 1995, Bookpress, Ltd. (Williamsburg, VA); 1995-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).