Georg Dionysius Ehret

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Georg Dionysius Ehret (born January 30, 1708 in Heidelberg , † September 9, 1770 in Chelsea ) was a plant painter and botanist . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Ehret ".

Live and act

Portrait of Georg Dionysius Ehret published in the work Plantae selectae by Christoph Jakob Trew
Ehret's drawing for Linné with the title "Methodus Plantarum Sexualis in sistemate naturae descripta"

Georg Dionysius Ehret was born in Heidelberg in 1708 . He received training as a gardener . His father taught him plant painting . After his father's death, his mother married the supervisor of the margravial gardens in Heidelberg, who gave him the supervision of part of the gardens. Among other things, he was responsible for the design of the garden in Karlsruhe . During this time it fell to Margrave Charles III. Wilhelm von Baden-Durlach through his drawings. Since there was trouble with the other gardeners, he had to leave Heidelberg and traveled to Vienna via Nuremberg , Ulm and Regensburg . During this time he tried to make a living from his plant drawings. Eventually he settled in Regensburg and worked for the pharmacist Johann Wilhelm Weinmann , who paid him poorly for his drawings and used them in his Phytanthoza iconographia (1737–1745) without naming Ehret's name .

Soon afterwards he met the doctor Christoph Jacob Trew from Nuremberg , who became his patron and friend. In the mid-1730s he traveled to the European cities of Basel , Paris , Lausanne , Geneva , Lyon and Montpellier . In 1735 he went to England and met Hans Sloane and Philip Miller in London . During this time he worked as a gardener and successfully sold his plant drawings. Many of them went to Christoph Jacob Trew and later served as illustrations for his works Hortus nitidissimus (1750–1786) and Plantae selectae (1750–1773).

In 1736, Ehret met Carl von Linné for the first time in Holland , on George Clifford's estate in Hartekamp . Linné was working there on his work Hortus Cliffortianus (1738), for which Ehret drew, among other things, a table for his classification of plants using the stamens. This collaboration with Linnaeus lasted until the end of his life. On his return to London in 1738 he married Susanna Kennet, Philip Miller's sister-in-law , with whom he had the son George Philip. Miller was head of the Chelsea Physic Gardens from 1721 , where Ehret often drew. On May 19, 1757 he was elected a member of the Royal Society .

Georg Dionysius Ehret died in his adopted home England in 1770 . He left behind more than 3000 drawings. His works are for example in the Natural History Museum in London , the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew , the Royal Society in London, the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society , the Victoria and Albert Museum and the University Library in Erlangen .

Honors

In 1758 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . Christoph Jacob Trew named the genus Ehretia in his honor .

Fonts (selection)

Works with drawings by him

Magazine articles

  • De Arboribus Sassafras dictis & Londinis cultis, earumque floris charactere. In: Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosorum. Volume 2, 1761, pp. 326-330, plate 6 (online)
  • De Planta Lithospermo affini. In: Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae Naturae Curiosorum. Volume 2, 1761, pp. 330-332 (online) .
  • An Account of a Species of Ophris, Supposed to be the Plant, Which is Mentioned by Gronovius in the Flora Virginica, p. 185, under the Name of Ophris Scapo Nudo Foliis Radicalibus Ovato-Oblongis, Dimidii Scapi Longitudine. In: Philosophical Transactions. Volume 53, 1763, pp. 81-83 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1763.0021 ).
  • An Account of a New Peruvian Plant, Lately Introduced into the English Gardens; the Several Characters of Which Differ from All the Genera Hitherto Described. In: Philosophical Transactions. Volume 53, 1763, pp. 130-132 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1763.0027 ).
  • A Description of the Andrachne, with Its Botanical Characters. In: Philosophical Transactions. Volume 57, 1767, pp. 114-117 ( doi: 10.1098 / rstl.1767.0015 ).

proof

further reading

Web links

Commons : Georg Dionysius Ehret  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ^ Member entry by Georg Dionys Ehret at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on October 19, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Ehret, Georg Dionysius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1708
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1770
Place of death Chelsea