Acanthus Leaves, Classical Ornament Plant, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1810

This antique botanical print from Bertuch's Bilderbuch shows the leaves of the acanthus, the plant whose deeply cut foliage inspired the Corinthian capital of classical architecture. The heading reads Pflanzen CV and the Vienna mark XI.B.6 is engraved at lower right.

Two large leaves fill the plate: figure 1, pale yellow green with spiny lobes, is read as the spiny acanthus, and figure 2, dark green with broader lobes, as the soft acanthus, Acanthus mollis, while part of the flowering spike with hooded lilac and white flowers is shown at B. The leaf of the acanthus has been carved on columns, friezes and furniture since antiquity, and this plate would suit an architect or a lover of classical design as much as a botanical collector.

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 XI.B.6. Vienna volume XI follows Weimar volume VI, which appeared in 1807, so this plate was published no earlier than that. The plate is a copper engraving with original hand color, as the Vienna volumes were issued colored.

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 traveled beyond Weimar in the years around 1800.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning and a few small scattered spots; the image is clean and strong.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.