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Laure Devéria

Imperial Fritillary

Artist

Laure Devéria
Paris 1813 – Paris 1838

Title

Imperial Fritillary

Date

1834

Materials

Watercolour with gouache highlights over traces of graphite on cardboard

Dimensions

42.9 x 26.9 cm

Credits

Anonymous gift, inv. 2014.337

Collection

Graphic Arts

This dazzling botanical drawing by the little-known French artist Laure Devéria demonstrates aesthetic and scientific sensibilities in equal measure. Its vibrant colours and meticulous specificity—visible, for example, in the chromatic variation of the stem—not only delight the eye, but would also help someone identify the plant. In a time before modern documentary photography, art was essential to the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, and women like Devéria played a major role.

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