L. Stroobant Sold at Auction Prices

L. Stroobant - Bouquet of four varieties of Azaleas. 23

This spectacular image is from L. Stroobant in the rare work The Illustrated Bouquet. The work was published in Ghent by A. Verschafflet for E. G. Henderson & Son between 1857 and 1859. In an interesting example of international cooperation, this beautiful plate was supplied by A. Verschaffelt, a nurseryman from Ghent in Belgium for inclusion in a highly ambitious periodical work published by a British nurseryman. The artist L. Stroobant is well known for the many fine quality plates he supplied for European botanical publications of the period. Published by Edward and Andrew Henderson between 1857 and 1864, The Illustrated Bouquet was conceived and executed on a much grander scale than any of the other periodicals of the period. The work is very rare: only one complete set is recorded as having sold at auction over the past twenty-five years. With plates over 14 inches high produced by some of the greatest botanical artists of the time, the work as a whole was a truly spectacular undertaking: the present image is a worthy representative of that splendor, and of the talent of a great botanical artist.