[Botanical Watercolors]:

$4,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[ALBUM OF FIFTEEN WATERCOLORS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, FRUIT, AND A BIRD]. A lovely album of quite accomplished amateur watercolors depicting plants, flowers, fruit, and a bird. The style of the album binding is American, as are some of the tree leaves illustrated, but neither the album nor any of the illustrations are signed. It is evidently the work of a talented amateur, skilled in the use of watercolors. Each illustration has been carefully highlighted with gum arabic in order to heighten certain colors or shades. Among the images is a bouquet of autumnal oak leaves, a branch of plums, a group of cherries, a rose, pansies, and several other plants and flowers. One of the largest and most striking illustrations is of a bird perched upon a leafy branch with blue coloring on its head and back, brown feathers at the tips of its wings, and a white belly. A very appealing example of the mid-Victorian fashion for creating personal albums of artistic renderings of nature.

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