Redouté, Pierre-Joseph. "Abyssinian Kniphofia". Prepared for Les Liliacées, ca. 1802-1816.

Pierre-Joseph Redouté Watercolor for plate 186: "Abyssinian Kniphofia" Veltheimia abyssinica Prepared for Les Liliacées ca. 1802-1816 Watercolor and graphite on vellum Signed 'P.J. Redoute' lower left 18 3/8" x 13 1/2" vellum, 29 3/4" x 24 3/8" framed Provenance: Acquired from the artist by the Empress Joséphine; Prince Eugène de Beauharnais; by descent through the Dukes of Leuchtenberg; Bibliothèque Eugène de Beauharnais; Braus-Riggenbach and Ulrico Hoepli sale, Zurich, 23 May 1935 (Lot 82); Erhard Wehye; Private trust; Sotheby’s sale, New York, 20 November, 1985; and W. Graham Arader III. Literature: Peter & Frances Mallary, A Redouté Treasury: 468 Watercolors from Les Liliacées of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, New York, 1986; William P. Watson, “Il Raffaello dei fiori” in KOS (March, 1986), 3:10-23.In 1798, Joséphine, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, acquired the Château de Malmaison at Reuil. An enthusiastic amateur botanist, she surrounded herself with France’s premier horticulturists