Poinciana Pulcherrima. Bargain price Joseph Paxton botanical engraving, c1838.

by Paxton, Joseph

Poinciana antique print, native to America. Original engraving of Poinciana by Frederick W. Smith for Paxton's Magazine of Botany & Register of Flowering Plants" published in London c.1840 by Joseph Paxton.

Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) was a hugely talented man. Starting as a gardener at 15 years of age, with no formal education, his skill and enthusiasm were rewarded by promotion at the age of 23 to Head Gardener on the Duke of Devonshire’s Chatsworth estate, one of England’s finest gardens. Although considered a landscape gardener, Paxton’s diverse talents gained him a reputation also as an architectural engineer for his design of glasshouses. His design for the glass house conservatory at Chatsworth served as a model for Paxton’s design of the Crystal Palace for the London Exhibition of 1851 (for which he received his knighthood). Apparently Paxton drafted the intricate design for this building in under nine days.

Size of page 230 x 150 mm ( 9 x 6 inches).  There is oxidation of the watercolour and foxing of this plate. The price has been reduced considerably.