I was half watching a history programme a few weeks ago, and doing something else at the same time, probably some kind of needlework, when I heard the presenter saying that Napolean’s Josephine was a keen horticulturalist and adored roses. Napolean gave his generals orders to find rose bushes wherever they were advancing and pillaging in the world and send them back home for Josephine. I bet they were pleased with that task!

Josephine went up in my estimation though, and even more so when I heard that she had commissioned Pierre-Joseph Redouté to paint her collection of roses. I have quite a lot of his prints myself, of various types of flowers but my favourites are his paintings of fruit. It might have something to do with my father having been a fruiterer and florist, in the days when you could earn a good living having a wee shop of your own and selling such things. But I think all gardeners have a love of botanical prints.

Anyway, above is a photo of some of my Redouté fruit prints. These ones are in the living-room. If you’re interested in seeing more of his images, have a look here. Redouté had quite a career because in his younger days he had been court artist for Marie Antoinette but obviously managed to survive the horrors of the French Revolution.

Book wise I only have this one, it’s quite small but has 64 pages of beautiful flower illustrations. There are also 24 pages about Redouté’s life.