Flore d'Amérique 1843 - Étienne Denisse (1785-1861) - 200 images

In the 1840s, Europe was enraptured by the beauty of America’s tropical flora. With the production of the lavishly-illustrated Flore d’Amérique (1843-46), Etienne Denisse brought the exotic flowers, fruits, trees, vines, and nuts growing in the Caribbean Islands to captivated readers across the Atlantic.

Flore d’Amérique’s 200 stunning hand-coloured lithographic plates were based on drawings 'from nature' by Denisse. The work was issued in fascicles of six plates between 1843-1846. Imprints on the individual plates credit both the Parisian firm Gihaut Frères (plates 1-49,64-72) and Denisse (plates 50-63, 73-200) as publishers.

This download features 200 hi-res images, in jpeg format, that are 300dpi and range in size from 4136 pixels wide/tall to 6392 pixels wide/tall.

The pictures are out of copyright and in the public domain, so you are free to use them in whatever way you'd like, including commercial use.

Étienne Denisse (1785-1861) was a French botanical artist, lithographer, botanist and horticulturist. 

Denisse worked at the horticultural gardens of the National Museum of Natural History, France. He lived for many years in the French West Indies, and was commissioned by the government of Guadeloupe to illustrate and collect the plants of the French Antilles, and to research their pharmaceutical and culinary properties.

His work, 'Flore d'Amérique', was important for its hand-coloured lithographs.