Pierre Joseph Redouté – A Biography
b. July 10, 1759 – d. June 20, 1840
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840)
Oil painting portrait by Baron François Gerard
It has been said Redouté remained apolitical in public, a stance that allowed him to move with relative ease from one ruler ship to the next. Beginning with Marie Antoinette, his patronesses included the Empress Joséphine and Napoleon’s second wife Marie Louise; Duchess of Parma (1791-1847) and later Queen Hortense de Beauharnais (1783-1837) the Duchesse de Berry (1798-1870) Queen Marie-Amelie (1782-1866) and Lady Adelaide d'Orléans (1777-1847).
As one of Redouté’s biographers, Roger Madol, observed, Redouté’s immortality rested on the fact that throughout the years he remained faithful to one queen who never went out of fashion: the rose.
It is certainly true, that despite many changes, Redouté never quavered from his devotion to his art. He writes of his works in the preface to Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs (1827-33), “…and illustrations of the plant kingdom, captivating the eye of the amateur who is a complete stranger to natural sciences, guiding him from admiration of their portrayal to contemplation of the plants themselves, from love of art to study of nature – how greatly these masterpieces increased the numbers of lovers of botany!”
This would be Pierre-Joseph’s life work – to keep perfecting a fusion of science and art expressed through his botanical illustrations and as a teacher, pass this knowledge on to the many pupils who came to be tutored by him in his later years.
Redouté’s early years
Born 30 years before the French Revolution, at St Hubert in the locality of Ardennes, Belgium, Pierre-Joseph was one of five children born into a family of artists. His grandfather, Jean-Jacques Redouté (1687-1752) and father, Charles-Joseph Redouté (1715-1776) had both earned a living from painting portraits, interior decorations and religious works and it was expected that the next generation of sons would follow suit.
In parts of Europe it was customary at the time for a young man, once he had completed an apprenticeship in his chosen craft, to become a 'journeyman'. A journeyman was an aspiring master who travelled to broaden his experience. He would be employed by master craftsmen until he became a master in his own right.
As it was, this is the route the young 13 year old Redouté took, travelling through Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg, accepting a variety of commissions along the way. During his travels he first encountered the works of the painters, Jan van Huysum (1682-1749) and Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750) - an encounter that would sow his lifelong passion for floral painting.
Recognition in Paris
In 1782, through financial necessity, Pierre-Joseph, now aged 23, joined his older brother, Antoine-Ferdinand Redouté (1756-1809), a painter of stage-sets for the Théatre Italien in Paris. During the next few years he worked in his brother's studio. Although he could only paint watercolours in his spare time, the delicacy and realism of his art soon attracted much admiration including that of a Paris art dealer, Cheveau. Cheaveau arranged to have Redouté’s paintings engraved by Gilles-Antoine de Marteau who owned an engraving and colour printing workshop. These first engravings caught the attention of the Dutch painter Gerard van Spaendonck (1746-1822) who immediately recognised Pierre-Joseph’s talent.
Spaendonck, professor of plant iconography (botanical painting) at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, appointed Redouté as a draughtsman at the Muséum. The Muséum was situated in the 28 hectare royal Paris botanic garden known as the Jardin du Roi. The Jardin des Plantes, as it was renamed after the French Revolution, is still France's main botanical garden today. It was here Redouté was introduced to a world of new and exotic plants and to the art of scientific botanical illustration.
Pierre-Joseph’s talents were also quickly recognised by the affluent French botanist and magistrate, Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle (1746-1800). L'Héritier came from an aristocratic family and as was customary in the day, was appointed to a role in the affairs of the land, in this case as the superintendent of Paris’s water and woods in 1772. The young L'Héritier, knowing nothing of water or woods at the time, taught himself botany from books published by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus and found he had a natural passion for the subject.
L'Héritier tutored Redouté in the dissection and depiction of plant anatomy, commissioning the young artist to contribute three paintings to the Stirpes novae (1785-6); a publication with illustrations and descriptions of little-known plants. This would mark the first of many publications filled with the coloured prints of Redouté's paintings.
A trip to England
At the time, these coloured prints were made by painstakingly engraving onto a metal plate, a mirror-image likeness of the original painting the print-maker desired to capture. The engraving process consisted of building up graduations of shadow and tone by massing together lines.
During a visit to London, arranged by L'Héritier in 1787, Redouté met Francesco Bartolozzi, who
introduced him to the concept of stipple-engraving. This new technique used dots and lines rather than just lines to build the graduations of tone and compared to line engraving produced a more delicate and realistic result. Bartolozzi also introduced Redouté to the process of single-plate colour printing, a method that made it possible to add multiple colours to the plate and print it just once. Although, sometimes, special copies had their final colouring touched up by hand.
Over time Redouté expanded these techniques further, inventing in 1786 his own trademark stipple engraving methods. His contribution to the art of print-making earned him the recognition of King Louis XVIII (1755-1824) who awarded him a medal for his achievements in 1796.
Appointment as Royal Flower Painter
It was L'Héritier's connections with the French Royal Court that introduced Redouté into the inner circle of the Court of Versailles; the fine quality of his illustrations catching the interest of Queen Marie Antoinette's cabinet. In time he was appointed official artist and instructed the Queen in the art of painting. Pierre-Joseph was popular at court, delighting with his ability to capture the likeness of a vase of flowers in less than an hour with his delicate watercolorist’s brushwork. Redouté’s time as the Queen’s flower painter was brought short by the eve of the French Revolution which would see France’s ‘Ancien Regime’ brought to an end.
During the years before the Revolution, Pierre-Joseph had continued to work with his early mentors, providing many illustrations for L'Héritier's four major botanical publications. After the Revolution, however, L'Héritier's fortune dwindled, leaving him no choice but to abandon future planned works. Through the difficult years of the Revolution and Restoration, fortunately Redouté's talent continued to find him in favour with each successive ruler ship.
The patronage of Empress Joséphine
After the Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte’s military successes quickly brought him to power. He was declared First Consul in 1799 and Emperor in 1804. Redouté soon gained the patronage of his wife, the soon to be Empress, Joséphine de Beauharnais. In 1799 Joséphine acquired the château Malmaison in Rueil, western Paris. Her intention was to cultivate a magnificent garden at the château; a vast collection of plants including rare and seldom seen specimens. No expense would be spared. Many were sourced from outside Europe and it was the Empress’s wish, to not only create a beautiful garden, but to document every plant scientifically as well.
Under the auspices of the Empress, Redouté flourished. His appointment was a well-remunerated one, enabling him and his wife, Marie-Marte Gobert, whom he had married in 1786, to maintain their apartment in Paris and in addition, buy a large country house and garden at Fleury-sous-Meudon. Although this property had suffered through neglect, they soon set about renovating the house and taming the wilderness back into a garden fit for the many plants Pierre-Joseph wished to grow.
Redouté’s first commission at Malmaison was a series of floral watercolours on vellum to decorate Joséphine’s bedroom. Pierre-Joseph’s brother, Antoine-Ferdinand, was also called upon to use his set-designing arts to decorate the room’s interior.
During the years that followed, Redouté rose to Joséphine’s challenge to illustrate the plants at Malmaison, producing several volumes filled with studies from her extensive herbarium. The first, a large format collection of 120 plates, published under the title Jardin de Malmaison (1803-1805) was followed by Les Lilacees (1802-1816); Redouté’s most comprehensive work on the lilac flower, complete with 486 colour plates.
The Empress was said to have a special fondness for the rose flower and it was her special interest to cultivate a rose garden of every known variety. By the end of her life she had collected over 250 varieties of rose in her garden, Redouté illustrating a large number of them in his most widely reprinted book, Les Roses (1817-1824) published over three volumes and 30 instalments during a seven year period.
Later years
After Joséphine ’s death, Redouté’s income drastically fell and he was forced to borrow money to maintain the lifestyle to which he, his wife and two daughters had grown accustomed.
Through the influence of his early mentor, Gerard von Spaendonck, Redouté again obtained employment at the Muséum. During this time he was joined by his younger brother, Henri-Joseph Redouté (1766-1852), who worked alongside Pierre-Joseph painting botanicals.
In 1822 Van Spaedonck died, and at the wish of King Louis XVIII, Pierre-Joseph succeeded him as ‘Maître du dessin au Muséum d'histoire naturelle’; professor of plant iconography at the Muséum. For over 16 years he held this position, giving at least 30 public lectures per year on the practice and history of botanical painting. This brought him much notoriety and a steady stream of pupils from France's high-ranking elite.
It was also during this time that he started producing deluxe flower portrait albums, the most celebrated of these being, Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs. Redouté hoped that the sales from these works would help relieve his financial difficulties. Although they did not, he continued to receive commissioned work, although few, even amongst the nobility of the day, could afford to spend the lavish amounts the late Empress Joséphine had done, on services such as Redouté’s.
A new appointment did come through Queen Marie Amélie, wife of the last king of France. Having an interest in flower painting she appointed Pierre-Joseph as their royal flower painter, providing him with the financial help he much needed. He dedicated Choix des Plus Belles Fleurs to the royal couple’s two daughters, who were also his pupils.
In his 80th year, Redouté conceived plans for a new project. It would be a magnificent large-scale artwork requiring the contribution of a number of specialised artists. Naturally, for Redouté it would be a floral tribute. It is believed that Redouté’s daughter, Joséphine, carried out secretarial duties for her father in his later years. She applied to the Ministry of the Interior for funding on behalf of her father’s new project but received a rejection letter from the minister, Charles de Remusat, expressing his regret that his budget could not allow it. That evening as Pierre-Joseph studied a white lily flower given to him by one of his pupils, his task was cut short by a massive stroke. He died the next day, the 20th June 1840. He rests at the Pére Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
