Beautiful Cactus. Cereus Gracilis scandens. Georg Ehret print.

by Ehret, Georg Dionysius

Spectacular reproduction print of the Graceful Cactus.

Printed from a beautiful hand-coloured copperplate engraving by Johann Jacob Haid after a painting by the influential German botanical artist Georg Dionysius Ehret (Heidelberg 1708-1770 London). The original engraving was published between 1750 and 1773 for "Plantae Selectae" (Latin for "Selected Plants") by German physician and botanist, Christoph Jacob Trew (1695-1769).

The son of a gardener, Ehret began as a gardener’s apprentice, and studied horticulture and entomology in Germany. He pursued his passion for botanical illustration first in Holland, and for the latter half of his life in London, where he instructed others in the art of botanical illustration and became one of the most influential botanical artists of his time. He was gifted both as a botanist and a botanical draughtsman. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1757. Ehret was one of the first to incorporate dissections and plant characteristics in his botanical illustrations. Ehret served his apprenticeship as a botanical draughtsman under Weinmann.

Print size: 53 x 36 cm (21 x 14 inches).