Custom Frames for Botanical Artwork Inspired from
17th Century Italy

Click/tap for larger versions of each image.

This week’s installment takes us to the orchards of seventeenth century Italy, via some interesting art history. Our feature includes two reproduction botanical works of art. The two featured here, antiques but modern reproductions, are based on much older works originating from Vincenzo Leonardi (ca. 1590 Rome – ca 1646 Rome), an Italian illustrator of natural history. Leonardi’s watercolors of citrus plants were commissions for Cassiano dal Pozzo – a member of Academia Dei Lincei, the first modern science academy in Europe – for inclusion in Cassiano’s “Paper Museum”, an extensive and famous collection of detailed drawings of the natural world, from fruit and flowers, to animals, fossils, and geological specimens. 

The citrus drawings in particular were made into engravings and published within a significant folio in 1646 by Cassiano’s friend and beneficiary Giovani Battista Ferrari, titled “Hesperides, sive, De Malorum Aureorum Cultura et Usu” (“Golden Apples” from The Mythological Garden of the Hesperides). It is the first known book entirely devoted to describing and celebrating prized citrus fruit taxonomy, history, folklore, cultivation, and culinary use of the day. These images, and similar items since, are often inspired from originals of this work and time period. As always, our frame treatment serves to preserve and protect, to honor the time-periods of the work, and carry the eye into the art as the centerpiece of the design. In this case we included hand-painted French matting on neutral color mats inlaid with a gold fillet – setting off the art and appropriate for the time period. All is mounted appropriately for longevity on acid-free cotton rag under UV and glare-resistant glazing within a beautifully subdued gold finished frame featuring the slight appearance of a hand-wrought texture. The frames will protect the art and provide many years of enjoyment for its owners. Thank you!

(You can see one of the original Leonardi citrus watercolors here, along with a bit of additional information: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/…/sour-orange…/)

Artwork of your own waiting for the perfect display? From antiques to more modern works, family heirlooms to commercial works, we’d love to help. Please contact us today, or stop by our Claremont NH shop with your art – we’d love to see you!

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