Commandant Julien Lignier (1872-1932)
Albums of Fine Original Watercolors of Fungi.
Watercolor and ink on paper
Bois de Theury and environs, 1924-1930., 1930.
3 portfolios (12 x 9 4/8 in).

573 watercolors. 558 loose leaves and 15 float-mounted and framed. A topographical map on the verso of one leaf. Each with extensive labeling to the images, and the versos with lengthy captions describing where and when the specimen was gathered, and a detailed physical description of the particular fungus and on what organic material it was found (some browning). Original homemade linen-backed patterned paper boards, with Lignier’s name inscribed on the spines and manuscript labels on each front cover.

A fine collection of exceptionally detailed botanical watercolor drawings of fungi numbered in red in the top left-hand corner: 41, 42, 349, 373, 431, 1313, 1474, 1627 to the 2300s and 2400s (not consecutive), followed by 2966, 3672, 4659, and 4663, and clearly part of a grande oeuvre, much of which is held in the Bibliothèque de Botanique, Cryptogamie, France (leaves numbered 1-2228, and mostly of mushrooms). Lignier gathered these specimens during the last years of his life, mostly in 1925, from his own garden, and the woods and fields near his home in the village of Theurey, south of Dijon. He corresponded with a number of other amateur mycologists in the local area, and together they went on plant-hunting expeditions and exchanged specimens. Lignier then meticulously studied and recorded their findings in these exquisite watercolor drawings, many of which are after images obtained by microscope. Denis Lamy, « Les aquarelles de champignons de J. Lignier », Bull. Soc. Mycol. France, “1983” 1984, 99(4), Atlas 2 p. 

Please feel free to contact us with questions by phone at 215.735.8811,
or by email at loricohen@aradergalleries.com