The Roses: China or Bengal Rose (1817–24): Art, History and Details

The Roses: China or Bengal Rose (1817–24) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Henri Joseph Redouté (French, 1766–1853); Bessin (French); Pierre-Joseph Redouté.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Hailed as the "Raphael of Flowers," Henri Joseph Redouté achieved an international reputation for his botanical illustrations in watercolor, which were interpreted in the most refined techniques of stipple engraving and published in lavish portfolios. He was close friends with the empress Joséphine who, after marrying Napoléon Bonaparte in 1795, built an immense hothouse to shelter her magnificent collection of rare and exotic plants and opulent gardens at their country estate, Malmaison. Joséphine also spent vast sums to catalogue her floral collections and so commissioned Redouté to record her 250 different species of roses. Redouté employed a workshop of 18 printmakers to execute the plates, which were inked à la poupée and then retouched with watercolor.

Object facts

• Title: The Roses: China or Bengal Rose
• Date: 1817–24
• Creator attribution: Henri Joseph Redouté (French, 1766–1853); Bessin (French); Pierre-Joseph Redouté
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: color stipple with watercolor added by hand
• Dimensions: Sheet: 36.5 x 27.3 cm (14 3/8 x 10 3/4 in.); Platemark: 35.3 x 26.1 cm (13 7/8 x 10 1/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Stipple
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1943.138

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, for the Donald Gray Memorial Collection

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.