Book excerpt: Rare indeed is the artist who is feted by royalty, and at the same time sought after by naturalists and scientists as an active collaborator. Such a painter was Pierre Joseph Redoute, born in 1759 on the Franco-Belgian border. Before Redoute was thirty his fame was established in Paris, where he was to become as renowned as his great neo-classic contemporary, Jacques-Louis David - and highly appreciated and honoured up to the year of his death, 1840. Even as Redoute collaborated with leading naturalists on several books and was rewarded with the title of Dessinateur to the Institut de France, he continued to specialize in roses, lilies, a nd lilacs. Redoute created this collection of masterpieces in 1833 as the pinnacle of his craft. In this lavish work - many of the plates were retouched by hand - he applied every technique and skill he had perfected, bringing art and nature into close harmony. A professional of self-imposed exacting standards, Redoute never abandoned the search for beauty and accuracy - as this magnificently produced volume shows so well. Although sales of his works in his lifetime never enabled him to balance his financial problems, connoisseurs of his turbulent times acclaimed him the Raphael of Flowers, the Rembrandt of Roses.