Weinmann Cactus double-size plate. Cereus Minimus Serpens Americanus, c1740

by Weinmann, Johann Wilhelm

Spectacular, rare double-page, folio-size Weinmann Cactus antique print.

Original copperplate engraving with etched outline and mezzotint colour-printed interior (and hand-finished), this is one of the earliest examples of colour-printing with watercolour from a single plate - published from 1737 to 1745 for Phytanthoza Iconographia, a survey of thousands of native and foreign plants, by Regensburg apothecary Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741).

The son of barber, in 1710 Johann moved to Ratisbon (Regensburg) and learn about botany as assistant to an apothecary. Johann married Isabella Catharina Furst, the daughter of an affluent wine merchant. By 1712 Weingmann was able to purchase a house and an apothecary shop which had gone bankrupt. Despite some commercial discord over the years Weinmann became a town councillor in 1722, a commercial assessor in 1725, and a city assessor in 1733. In 1732, after Isabella died, Johann married Christine Catharina Pfaffenreuther, the daughter of a town official.

As his business interests flourished, Weinmann increasingly pursued his passion for botany. He created a botanical garden in Regensburg, published the Catalogus Alphabetico ordine exhibens Pharmaca (Alphabetical Pharmaceutical Catalogue) in 1723, and contributed botanical notes as 'Observationes und Anmerkungen' in the Breslauer Sammlungen.  His grandest achievement was his Phytanthoza Iconographia, a florilegium with more than 1,000 engravings of several thousand plants and trees. He employed a number of capable illustrators, including Georg Dionysus Ehret (1708-1770).

This large Cactus image is approximately 42 x 31cm (16.5 x 12.25 inches). The page size is 46 x 33cm (18 x 13 inches). It was slightly cropped down the left side to accommodate publication size. With a backing board of similar tone to the paper, and U/V glass to prevent discolouration of paper or matboard, it could be more generously presented.