African Aloe, plate 47 from Phtanthoza Iconographia
Medium
Color mezzotint and engraving on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 32.4 × 21 cm (12 13/16 × 8 5/16 in.); Sheet: 37.5 × 23 cm (14 13/16 × 9 1/16 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
22483
Art Historical Context
Behold the exquisite *African Aloe, plate 47* from Johann Wilhelm Weinmann's groundbreaking *Phytanthoza Iconographia* (1736), a masterpiece of 18th-century art now housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department. This color mezzotint and engraving cream laid paper (plate: 32.4 × 21 cm) captures the spiky elegance of an exotic African succulent with scientific precision, reflecting the era's fervor for plant discovery amid global exploration. Weinmann, a German apothecary and botanist, spearheaded one of the first major color-printed florilegia—a comprehensive encyclopedia...