PAIR OF FRAMED 18TH CENTURY, OF THE PERIOD, FILIPPO ARENA BOTANICAL ENGRAVINGS DEPICTING TULIPS & LILLIES,Circa 1767, From the Nature & Cultivation of Flowers. Palermo, Sicily. Two handcolored, of the period, engravings, the first plate Lillium Tab 32. The second Tab 60, Tulipa. Both with old color. Both are framed in identical gilt frames with marblized paper and handlined paper mats. (2 total).
Filippo Arena was a Jesuit professor of mathematics and philosophy in Palermo. He was interested in the phenomenon of pollination of flowers by insects, which he explored in his work La Natura e Coltura dei Fiori Fisicamente Esposta, published under the name of his nephew, Abbot Ignazio Arena. The work was composed of three volumes: the first on botany and the anatomy and fertilization of flowers, the other two on horticulture, including 60 pages devoted to an in-depth discourse on the creation of a flower garden. The volumes contain a catalog of 'noble' species with detailed descriptions of every flower represented in the 65 plates of La Natura. These images were composed by Arena in collaboration with his colleague, painter Mario Cammerari. Many of the renditions of individual flowers were derived from earlier publications, such as Johann Weinmann's Phytanthoza Iconographia and G.B. Ferrari's De Florum Cultura. - Framed: 16 13/16" high x 20 5/8" wide. Estimate $400-500
One of the prints has been examined out of frame and measures approx. 9 3/4" high x 14 1/2" wide. Plate mark: 7 5/8" high x 11 13/16" wide. Some creasing, discoloration to edges, and marks associated with the plates having been bound.
