Pierre Jean François
Turpin and Pierre Antoine Poiteau
were two friends who were contemporaries of Redouté.
Pierre Turpin (1775-1840), who
has been hailed as possibly the finest French natural botanical
artist of his period, came from humble beginnings. He was the
son of a poor artisan and learned the elements of drawing at the
art school at Vire before enlisting in the batallion du Calvados
at the age of fourteen.
Pierre Poiteau (1766-1854) was
a self-taught botanist and artist who spent his early career working
as a gardener at the Jardin des Plantes where he made enough of
an impression to be chosen to be sent to set up a botanic garden
at Bergerac. This accomplished, he was next sent as a plant collector
to Santo Domingo by the Jardin, where fate stepped in as he met
and became friends with Turpin, who was stationed there with the
French army.
The friendship developed into
an artistic collaboration which provided illustrations for some
of the most elaborate botanical publications of the period including
several of the botanical volumes depicting the discoveries made
by Friedrich Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in
the course of their exploration of Central and South America from
1799 to 1804.
The two artists also worked
both independently and with other collaborators.
It is considered by many to
be the most beautiful work on fruit ever produced.
