Pierre-Joseph Redouté

King Charles X honored the Belgian botanical illustrator Pierre-Joseph Redouté with the Legion of Honor.
To this day, Redouté is one of the most renowned flower painters of all time. Redouté was born into a Flemish family of painters. Growing up, his family supported themselves by creating paintings for the home and for the church.
Redouté was an official court draftsman to Queen Marie Antoinette. One evening around midnight, she summoned him to appear before her, and she asked him to paint her a cactus. She was exerting her control; she wanted to see if Redouté was as talented as was reported. (He was.)
Redouté also became a favorite of Josephine Bonaparte. Redouté’s paintings of her flowers at Malmaison are among his most beautiful works. Today, Redouté is best known for his paintings of lilies and roses. Roses were his specialty.  And, Redouté's work earned him a nickname; he was known as "the Raffaele of flowers.".
Now, if you'd like to really treat yourself or get a special gift or a gardener in your life, you should check out the book by Werner Dressendorfer called Redouté: Selection of the Most Beautiful Flowers.
This is a large coffee table book. It is probably one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen; again, it's called Redoute: A Selection of the Most Beautiful Flowers.
This book came out in September of 2018, and I finally just got myself a copy of it after mulling it over for over a year. the book features 144 paintings by Redouté that were published between 1827 and 1833. it's is truly one of my favorite books in my Botanical Library.
When this book first came out, it retailed for $150.
You can get new copies of Redouté: Selection of the Most Beautiful Flowers by Werner Dressendorfer and support the show - using the link in Today Show notes for $83.
I managed to get an excellent used copy for $65. But, as I said, this is an investment piece, and it's also extraordinarily beautiful.
I guarantee if you have this book sitting out, your visitors will be sure to comment, and they probably won't be able to resist looking through the beautiful paintings. Glorious.