The Belgian artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1849) was hailed in his time as the “Raphael of flowers” for his elegant and detailed renderings of roses and lilies as well as exotic plants from faraway lands. His work was so highly regarded that he was appointed the official court artist to Queen Marie Antoinette and would go on to become the official artist for Empress Josephine de Beauharnais. Contributing with scientific accuracy to the golden era of natural science, he worked with the greatest botanists of his time, helping with the classification and identification of plants collected from all over the world.

To coincide with the first major retrospective of his work at the Musée de la Vie Romantique in Paris, an exhibition of different crafts on the theme of flowers is being organized by the Ateliers d’Art de France.

The Power of Flowers, Pierre-Joseph Redouté will present about 250 paintings and watercolors, along with other works of arts that underline the fascination for all thing botanic around his time reflected in various materials from silk weaving in Lyon, wallpaper creations, court dress embroideries, and Sevres porcelains.

Adding a contemporary perspective to the exhibition, 26 creators have been invited to present works using various fine craft materials from silver, bronze, and porcelain to cotton, mosaic, and feathers.

Amongst these creations, artist embroiderer Kyoko Sugiura offers an interpretation of the tumultuous relationship between George Sand and Frédéric Chopin using micro-pearl embroidered flowers, while Valérie Tanfin created small flowers from feathers and Hélène Lathouméthie recreated a 19th century muff hand warmer decorated with flowers, all in porcelain.

The exhibition will run April 27 to October 1, 2017.