Pierre-Joseph Redouté  (Belgian, 1759-1840)
Watercolor for plate 383: “Lobster Claw” Heliconia humilis
Prepared for Les Liliacées ca. 1802-1816
Watercolor and graphite on vellum
Completed: ca. 1802-1816
Vellum size: 18 1/2 x 13 in.
Frame size: 25 1/4 x 19 5/8 in.
Signed ‘P.J. Redouté’ lower left
Inventory no. AP02058

This second depiction of Heliconia humilis (see also plate 382) follows Redouté’s and de Candolle’s practice of providing multiple views of important species. The two heliconia plates together document the plant from different aspects, likely showing both the front and back or different developmental stages of the bracts and flowers. This thoroughness, treating a single tropical specimen to two plates, emphasizes the plant’s significance in the Malmaison collection and in the Les Liliacées project.

The duplicate plate for Heliconia humilis in Les Liliacées places it in a distinguished company of plants given double treatment in the publication. Among them Strelitzia reginae (plates 77 and 78) and Musa paradisiaca (plates 443 and 444). These are all large, tropical, spectacular plants that Josephine grew in her greenhouse; their duplication in the publication amounts to a horticultural and artistic tribute. For Redouté, the technical challenge of rendering the waxy, reflective red bracts of a heliconia in his pointillé technique represented the same kind of mastery test as the metallic blue petals of the bird of paradise.

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