{"product_id":"basilius_besler__wild_peony_paeonia_mascula","title":"Paeonia Mas Flore Purpureo – Basilius Besler, 1613","description":"\u003ch2\u003ePaeonia Mas Flore Purpureo by Basilius Besler, 1613\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFramed Canvas Art\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plate from Besler's monumental \u003cem\u003eHortus Eystettensis\u003c\/em\u003e presents \u003cstrong\u003ePaeonia Mas Flore Purpureo\u003c\/strong\u003e — the male wild peony — with the exacting clarity of a scientist and the compositional assurance of a trained draftsman. At the center, a single fully-opened bloom commands the sheet: its broad petals rendered in deep crimson-magenta, layered from a pale, almost ivory-tinged center outward to rich burgundy margins, with a crown of yellow-tipped stamens forming the focal nucleus. To the upper left, a tightly packed seedpod bursts with vermillion and saffron-orange seeds against dark green sepals, providing a chromatic counterpoint to the open flower. Three companion plants — identified in the plate's cartouche as \u003cstrong\u003eSanicula\u003c\/strong\u003e, the peony itself, and \u003cstrong\u003eAlchemilla\u003c\/strong\u003e — anchor the lower register, their gnarled root systems rendered with forensic precision in warm ochre and umber tones. The foliage throughout is a deep, saturated botanical green, modeled with subtle ink hatching beneath the hand-applied watercolor wash. This plate exemplifies the \u003cem\u003escientific naturalism\u003c\/em\u003e that distinguished Besler's enterprise from earlier herbals: every organ of each plant — root, stem, leaf, bud, bloom, and seed — is simultaneously present and legible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBesler, a Nuremberg apothecary and horticulturist, produced the \u003cem\u003eHortus Eystettensis\u003c\/em\u003e between 1597 and 1613 under the patronage of Prince-Bishop Johann Konrad von Gemmingen of Eichstätt, whose celebrated garden on the Willibaldsburg provided the living specimens. Published in 1613, it remains one of the largest and most ambitious botanical books ever printed — 367 folio plates engraved on copper and then hand-colored by a team of illuminators working under Besler's supervision. The peony plate belongs to the summer section and was among the most admired in contemporary reviews of the work, praised for reconciling the older tradition of the \u003cem\u003eherbarium\u003c\/em\u003e with the emerging \u003cem\u003eBaroque\u003c\/em\u003e appetite for grandeur and spectacle. Original copies were produced in colored and uncolored editions; the colored copies, of which fewer than a dozen survive intact, are held by institutions including the Smithsonian Libraries, the Natural History Museum London, and the Bavarian State Library. The work stands as a founding document of \u003cem\u003ebotanical illustration\u003c\/em\u003e as a distinct artistic discipline, predating Linnaeus's classificatory system by more than a century yet anticipating its spirit of comprehensive, ordered observation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur archival giclee reproduction on museum-grade cotton canvas recovers the full chromatic range of Besler's original hand-coloring with particular fidelity to the transitions that define this plate's power: the gradation from the warm ivory center of the peony bloom outward through rose-blush mid-petals to the deep crimson-purple at the outer edges, and the contrast between the luminous saffron seed cluster and the surrounding dark foliage. Mass-produced offset reproductions of this plate consistently flatten the ochre-to-umber modeling of the exposed root systems and reduce the delicate ink-engraved hatching beneath the leaf surfaces to an undifferentiated tone; our process, sourced from high-resolution institutional scans and digitally restored to correct centuries of color shift in aged paper stock, preserves the fine crosshatching that gives each leaf its three-dimensional roundness. The ornate composite frame, finished in antique gold, directly complements the warm saffron and umber tones of the seedpod and rootwork, grounding the deep crimson bloom in a presentation consistent with the grandeur Besler's original patrons intended.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CanvasClassics","offers":[{"title":"Small (21 x 19) \/ Gold","offer_id":49073648795883,"sku":"1970311","price":195.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Small (21 x 19) \/ Silver","offer_id":49073648828651,"sku":"1970312","price":195.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Small (21 x 19) \/ Dark Bronze","offer_id":49073648861419,"sku":"1970313","price":195.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Medium (31 x 27) \/ Gold","offer_id":49073648894187,"sku":"1970321","price":295.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Medium (31 x 27) \/ Silver","offer_id":49073648926955,"sku":"1970322","price":295.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Medium (31 x 27) \/ Dark Bronze","offer_id":49073648959723,"sku":"1970323","price":295.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Large (36 x 31) \/ Gold","offer_id":49073648992491,"sku":"1970331","price":495.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Large (36 x 31) \/ Silver","offer_id":49073649025259,"sku":"1970332","price":495.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Large (36 x 31) \/ Dark Bronze","offer_id":49073649058027,"sku":"1970333","price":495.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Estate (47 x 40) \/ Gold","offer_id":49073649090795,"sku":"1970341","price":995.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Estate (47 x 40) \/ Silver","offer_id":49073649123563,"sku":"1970342","price":995.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Estate (47 x 40) \/ Dark Bronze","offer_id":49073649156331,"sku":"1970343","price":995.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0762\/8606\/6923\/files\/basilius_besler__wild_peony_paeonia_mascula__small__gold.jpg?v=1784501947","url":"https:\/\/canvasclassics.shop\/products\/basilius_besler__wild_peony_paeonia_mascula","provider":"Canvas Classics","version":"1.0","type":"link"}