Signed with initials in pen and ink, lower left, A.Rx, watercolour and gouache on wove paper

286 x 206 mm (11 x 8 1/8 in.)

Condition: Minor adhesive tapes to the verso, and very minor discolouration of the paper and time staining, otherwise in a superb condition, hinged to a conservation mount. 19th century in pen and brown ink inscribed on calque paper, attached to the backing Riocreux/ Vernonia centriflora (vel scorpiodes)/ no 12 (Juin 16) 1874, p.231

Engraved: Revue Horticole, Journal dHorticulture Pratique, Paris, 1874.

Engraved:

Revue Horticole, Journal dHorticulture Pratique, Paris, 1874.

Alfred Riocreux was the son of Denis-Dsir Riocreux (1791-1872), an artist at the Manufacture Royale de Porcelain at Svres, and one of the last pupils of Pierre-Joseph Redout (1759-1840). Riocreuxs fathers failing eyesight meant that he had to give up porcelain painting, and in 1815 was appointed keeper of the museum at Svres. It was at this museum that Alfred studied botanical drawings and some of his earliest drawings are in this collection. Alfred worked at the Svres manufactory and his work, many of them botanical drawings, were exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1837, 1838 and 1855. After meeting the Belgian botanist Thurret, Riocreux specialised as a botanical artist. He was an early exponent of drawing from microscope and contributed designs to the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, and from 1852 the Revue Horticole, in which this work in published. His work is represented in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Broughton Collection). The artist lived until he was 92 years old.

Vernonia Centriflora otherwise known as Cyrtocymura scorpioides is a genus of plants belonging to the family Asteraceae.