Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Just as Europeans were establishing homes & gardens along the colonial Atlantic coast of Early America in New England & Virginia, Germans were creating the
Hortus Eystettensis, a pictorial record of the flowers grown in the greatest German garden of its time, the creation of the Prince Bishop of Eichstätt, Johann Conrad von Gemmingen (1561-1612). At his seat, the Willibaldsburg castle overlooking the river Altmühl, the Prince Bishop created an extensive pleasure garden comprised of 8 separate gardens, each staffed with its own gardeners & each filled with flowers from a different country, imported through Amsterdam, Antwerp & Brussels. The Prince Bishop boasted of having tulips in 500 colors. Painted halls & pleasure rooms further adorned the gardens. German botanist, Joachim Camerarius the Younger, collaborated with the Prince Bishop on the garden's early design. After Camerarius's death, a Nuremberg apothecary, Basilius Besler (1561-1629), advised on the planting & design, & began immortalizing the garden in detailed & delicate engravings for the year-round enjoyment of his patron (& for posterity) in the Hortus Eystettensis. Flowers were drawn from life with flower boxes sent to Nuremberg, so that artists there could work from fresh specimens, with the result that these plant portraits serve both as documentation & pleasure; here is a paper garden museum made perennial & evergreen.
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
Basilius Besler (German botanist, 1561–1629) Hortus Eystettensis 1613
