The Beauty of Flowers Dipladenia Nobilis by Louise Van Houtte Print of the Day!

​As I've mentioned before having beautiful prints of flowers in your home is like bringing the outside indoors.  If you're looking to brighten up your decor or simply love collecting botanical prints then the work of Louis Benoît Van Houtte should be on your list.  Van Houtte (1810-1876) was a Belgian horticulturist who worked at the Jardin Botanique de Brussels between 1836 and 1838 and is best known for his famous series of botanicals, Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l’Europe. He was the proprietor of the largest nursery of its time on the continent. At the height of European orchid mania in 1845 he despatched plant collectors to the Americas to search for orchids and other exotic plants.
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Above: Flowering plant Dipladdenia Nobilis c1849 original chromolithograph from Louis van Houtte’s, Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l’Europe (Flowers of the Greenhouses and Gardens of Europe).

Van Houtte founded a number of high quality botanical periodicals to advertise the plants he sold. Many of the beautiful prints were created by his own printing office in the middle of the gardens, the Horto van Houtteano. His illustrations of plants are especially notable for the craftsmanship of the Belgian lithographers Severeyns, Stroobant and De Pannemaker, who had mastered the art of colour printing from stone.

Happy Hunting!

You can see more botanicals by Louise Van Houtte and Jean Jules Linden HERE.