Botanical, Art, Garden Flower Bouquet, Elisa-Honorine Champin, Antique Print, Paris, 19th Century

Description

Elisa-Honorine Champin was a watercolorist and lithographer who painted mainly flowers and fruit.   Born in Paris, she studied under Mlle. Riché and exhibited at the Salon under her maiden name, Pitet, from 1833 to 1836.  After she wed the French painter Jean-Jacques Champin (1796-1860) in 1837, she began exhibiting under her married name.  She contributed botanical works to Le Jardin Potager [The Vegetable Garden] (1850-1884) a series of vegetable posters printed by Lemercier as advertisements for the Parisian firm Vilmorin-Andrieux, a leading wholesaler of seeds.

Lemercier & Cie. was a prolific lithographer of the 19th century, active from at least 1850 to 1884.  Among their well-known works were the botanical series of vegetable posters, Le Jardin Potager [The Vegetable Garden] (1850-1884), by Elisa-Honorine Champin and others, for the Parisian firm Vilmorin-Andrieux, a leading wholesaler of seeds.

Botanical bouquet compositions of varieties of flowers derive from a tradition that begins with Dutch Old Master still life pictures – for a brief overview see our About Botanicals page.

Full publication information: Lemercier, Rue de Seine 57, Paris; H. Gache, rue de la Victoire, Paris.

Condition:  Generally very good with the usual light overall toning, wear, soiling, soft creases.  Faint loss to surface finish at the marginal extremities easily matted out.

References:

Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs.  France: Librairie Gründ, 1966.  Vol. 2, p. 425.

Dao, Annie and Miller, Lee Norman.  “Botanical sheet—The vegetable garden.”  Agropolis Museum.  1996-2005.  http://museum.agropolis.fr/english/pages/expos/aliments/fruits_legumes/images/planche.htm (12 October 2005).