Weinmann Euphorbium Caule Squamoso, Euphorbium ceri effigie spinis.. c1740
by Weinmann, Johann Wilhelm
Antique Print of Euphorbia: Many-stemmed Euphorbia, Spiny Euphorbia.
Original copperplate engraving with etched outline and mezzotint colour-printed interior tones by Johann-Jacob Haid (1704-1767). One of the earliest examples of colour-printing with watercolour from a single plate (hand-finished). Published between 1737-1745 for Phytanthoza Iconographia, or comprehensive survey of thousands of native and foreign plants, from all four corners of the world, the result of many years of tireless study, by Regensburg apothecary Johann Willhelm Weinmann (1683-1741).
Born in Gardelegen in 1683, Johann Weinmann was the son of a barber, Matthias Christian Weinmann. In 1710 Johann moved to Ratisbon (now Regensburg) and found work as the assistant to an apothecary. He married the daughter of an affluent wine merchant, Isabella Cathatina Furst, and by 1712 he was able to purchase a house and an apothecary shop which had gone bankrupt. When he was appointed Hospital Apothecary in 1713, Weinmann became embroiled in a lengthy dispute with local apothecaries and physicians. The dispute was resolved in 1715 after the intervention of the Town Council. Weinmann was reprimanded and his adversaries were instructed not to trouble him. Weinmann soon resumed his successful career. He 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 spent more time pursuing his passion of 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. New botanical species described by Weinmann are appended with the standard author abbreviation of J.W.Weinn. His grand life achievement was his 8 folio-sized volumes of Phytanthoza Iconographia, a florilegium with more than 1,000 colour-printed engravings of several thousand plants and trees. Weinmann's grand life achievement was his 8 folio-sized volumes of Phytanthoza iconographia, a florilegium with more than 1,000 colour-printed engravings of several thousand plants and trees.
Size of page 15 x 9 inches or 38 x 23cm.
Stock Number: apWein.bot498Price: $425.00