Pancrace Bessa

Amaryllis sarniensis, 1836

Hepatica nobilis

Melier

Pancrace Bessa (born January 1, 1772 in Paris , France , † June 11, 1846 in Écouen , France) was a French artist and illustrator who had specialized in scientific representations, especially of plants .

Life

Pancrace Bessa studied at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, commonly known as the Jardin des Plantes . His main influences during his studies were the important plant painters Gérard van Spaendonck and Pierre-Joseph Redouté . Bessa probably studied with the latter. Bessa was hired as a peintre des fleurs (English: painter of flowers ) to portray rare plants for the collection of vélins . Vélins or Germanized Vellum is a particularly high-quality parchment made from the skin of calves , which was used for such illustrations from the middle of the 17th century - originally for Gaston de Bourbon, duc d'Orléans , which was first adopted by Louis XIV and then became the standard for the Jardin du Roi , which was renamed the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in 1793 . The Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle with its renowned scientists and illustrators was internationally recognized as an important natural history research center.

Based on his connection to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle , Bessa illustrated numerous botanical publications and worked for the most important French botanists , horticulturists and farmers of his time. Bessa was often the first to capture newly discovered plant species from fruits to trees to flowers from America , Asia , Africa and Australia . He did this both alone and in collaboration with other artists, including his teacher Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Bessa was part of a movement that gave France a prominent position in the field of botanical painting. In addition to Bessa and Redouté, this movement also included Jean-Louis Prévost , Lancelot-Théodore Turpin de Crissé and Madame Vincent . Many of Bessa's paintings were reproduced using the technique of dot engraving, an engraving technique that Bessa herself had developed in this form. His works appeared between 1810 and 1826 in one of the most important journals of his time: Mordant de Launays Herbier Général de l'Amateur . A total of 572 pictures were published here, which were originally made with water- based paint on vellum and showed plants that grew in the gardens of Paris.

An important sponsor of Bessa was Maria Karolina of Naples-Sicily, the Duchess of Berry , daughter-in-law of Charles X. From 1816, she expanded her patronage, which led to Bessa personally giving art lessons to the ducal family, especially the Duchess herself. In 1826, two years after his coronation, the French King Charles X bought up all the originals of the pictures published in the Herbier Général de l'Amateur . Through the sister of the Duchess of Berry, the second Empress of Brazil , the director of the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro and that of the daughter of one of the directors, the pictures of Bessa then began their journey from France to Brazil .

From 1823 until his death in 1846, Bessa also worked for the Velins du Roi , the royal collection of paintings with watercolor on vellum. Bessa's last work, Flore des Jardiniers , was opened to the public in 1836.

plant

In the golden age of natural history, many newly discovered plant species reached France and had to be classified and cataloged. This documentation also included detailed illustrations. Pancrace Bessa painted illustrations of plants and occasionally animals for some of the most important collections of the early 19th century. Bessa's pictures have an extremely high level of iconicity and are characterized by an almost photo-realistic detail and plasticity. Furthermore, Bessa mainly uses a strong, radiant object color. The pictures are therefore truly exemplary examples of scientific illustrations.

Bessa's work is incredibly extensive and includes many hundreds of pictures. For the Herbier Général de l'Amateur alone , Bessa made 572 pictures of plants. Most of Bessa's works that still exist today are hand-colored engravings and the pictures made with water-based paint on vellum. Although the focus of Bessa's work was on plant illustrations, which he made in the Jardin des Plantes and for the Herbier Général de l'Amateur , he also occasionally painted animals. For example, colored engravings of a kangaroo and a raven have survived. When Bessa painted animals, however, the focus was primarily on insects , primarily butterflies .

Web links

Commons : Pancrace Bessa  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Pancrace Bessa and the Golden Age of French Botanical Illustration , exhibition notice on huntbotanical.org
• Pancrace Bessa on artnet.com