- Author: Abraham Munting
- Date: 1696
- Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
- Condition: Very good
- Inches: 10" x 15 1/4"
- Centimeters: 25.64 x 39.10
- Product ID: 000068
From Naauwkeurige Beschryving Der Aardgewassen (Accurate Description of Terrestrial Plants). Abraham Munting. Pieter van der Aa & Francois Halma, Leyden & Utrecht.
Abraham Munting (1626-1683) was a Dutch botanist and botanical artist. He was a member of the faculty at the University of Groningen, where he remained for 24 years as an eminent professor of botany and chemistry. There he directed one of the most extensive botanical gardens of the period from 1658 to 1683. Munting’s most famous work Naauwkeurige Beschryving Der Aardgewassen (1696), was published posthumously and is an enlarged and revised version of his previous book Waare Oeffening der Planten (1672, 1682).
The 'Naauwkeurige' enjoyed particular success, at least in part due to the novelty of the plates, which in a radical departure from the iconography of the traditional florilegium, presented its plant species against a charming series of landscape backgrounds. Whether this was the idea of Munting or those who completed the work after his death is not known. Among the illustrations are trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses of temperate zones, along with a number of tropical and subtropical plants imported for cultivation to the Netherlands. This item is available with fine custom picture framing, see the framing tab on our website for details.